The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is finishing off the week on a rather flat note so far this Friday. At the time of writing, the ASX 200 is up a paltry 0.04% to 7,418 points. But let's dig beyond that rather uninforming metric, and instead check out the ASX 200 shares topping the trading volume charts so far this Friday, according to investing.com.
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3 most active ASX 200 shares by volume on Friday
Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX: WHC)
ASX 200 coal miner Whitehaven is our first share up today. We have seen a sizeable 14.65 million Whitehaven shares trade on the markets so far. There's not much in the way of news or announcements out of this resources share today.
In saying that, the Whitehaven share price has taken a pretty steep tumble on Friday, and is currently down a nasty 3.2% to $2.88 a share. It's probably this big share price drop that is responsible for so many Whitehaven shares trading on the markets today.
Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS)
ASX 200 telco Telstra is our next share up today. This Friday has seen a hefty 14.86 million Telstra shares swap hands thus far. Like with Whitehaven, there are no major pieces of news out of Telstra today. Though, the telco has had a rather bouncy day on the ASX boards.
Telstra shares are currently up 0.67% to $3.76, but have been trading between $3.71 and $3.78 so far today. It's probably this volatility that's behind these relatively high share volumes we are seeing.
Aurizon Holdings Ltd (ASX: AZJ)
Our third and final ASX 200 share to check out today is the rail freight company Aurizon. So far this Friday, 16.7 million Aurizon shares have been bought and sold. This appears to be linked to the major acquisition Aurizon announced this morning.
As we covered earlier today, Aurizon has inked an agreement with Macquarie Asset Management to purchase One Rail Australia for the sum of $2.35 billion. The Aurizon share price has reacted savagely though, with the company down a nasty 5% so far today to $3.70 a share. It's this big news, together with Aurizon's meaningful share price drop, that is probably behind such elevated trading volume.
