The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) looks like it is set to end the trading week on a low note. At the time of writing, the ASX 200 is down a hefty 2% and is sitting at 7,184 points.
Let's not dwell too long on that though, and instead check out the ASX 200's most traded shares by volume so far this Friday, according to investing.com.
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The 3 most active ASX 200 shares this Friday
Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS)
Our first ASX 200 share today is the lithium producer Pilbara Minerals. Pilbara has seen a hefty 15.12 million shares trade so far today. There are no major news or announcements out of the company today.
However, the Pilbara share price is having a pretty dreadful time this Friday, to be frank. The company is currently down a nasty 5.51% to $1.94 a share at the time of writing. This is almost certainly what is behind the large volume of shares trading today.
Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT)
Our second share to examine today is ASX 200 energy company Beach. This oil driller has seen a sizeable 15.97 million of its shares find new owners so far today. Much like Pilbara, there are no major news or announcements we can point to.
However, Beach is also a company that has been severely punished by the market today. The Beach Energy share price is currently trading at $1.41, down a painful 6%. We can point to this drop to help explain the large volume of shares trading thus far.
Santos Ltd (ASX: STO)
Another ASX 200 energy share in Santos is our final and most traded ASX 200 share so far this Friday. Today we have seen a whopping 75.84 million Santos shares bought and sold at the time of writing.
As my Fool colleague Mitchell covered earlier today, Santos shares are in some hot water over a major shareholder, the private Chinese energy and investment company ENN Group, unloading a parcel of shares worth approximately $403 million. This is likely the reason why so many Santos shares have been traded this Friday.
The Santos share price is currently trading at $6.94, down 23.21%.
