Here are the 3 most heavily traded ASX 200 shares on Wednesday

We take a look at the most active ASX 200 shares by volume…

Sebastian Bowen

Author Bio Sebastian Bowen has been a Motley Fool contributor since late 2018. Sebastian found his passion for writing and educating others about shares and all things finance after completing his studies in political, economic and social science and enjoys bringing this passion to life at the Fool. His investment philosophy is a simple one – buying high-quality companies at prices that make sense. When he’s not researching his next investment at all hours of the morning, Sebastian enjoys classic movies and likes to unwind with a good book, newspaper or record. Areas of Expertise Dividend investing ETFs Education Bachelor of Political, Economic, and Social Sciences (Government and International Relations), University of Sydney Social Media X/Twitter Favorite Investment Quote "In the short run, the market is a voting machine, but in the long run, it is a weighing machine." – Benjamin Graham

Published January 19, 2022 3:14 pm AEDT

The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is suffering through another poor day of trading so far this Wednesday. At the time of writing, the ASX 200 is down by a nasty 1.04% at 7,332 points.

But let's not let that get us down. So instead, let's dive a little deeper into the ASX 200 shares presently topping the ASX's trading volume charts, according to investing.com.

a group of three people carry a large block to line it up in ascending order with two other blocks nearby. — Image source: Getty Images

The 3 most traded ASX 200 shares by volume this Wednesday

Sydney Airport (ASX: SYD)

ASX 200 infrastructure company Sydney airport is our first share to take a look at today. This Wednesday has seen a hefty 17.33 million SYD shares fly to a new home. That's despite an absence of news or announcements from the Airport today. The Sydney Airport share price isn't doing too much either. It's currently sitting at $8.65 a share, flat for the day so far.

So it's possible that this volume is being caused by the planned acquisition of Sydney Airport. The company is recently in the process of being acquired by a consortium of institutional infrastructure investors at a share price of $8.75 a share. Perhaps there is some elevated trading going on before shareholders get to vote on the deal on 3 February.

Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS)

ASX 200 lithium producer Pilbara Minerals is next up this Wednesday. Pilbara has watched as a whopping 18.05 million of its shares have changed hands so far today.

This is almost certainly the result of the nasty share price fall that Pilbara has endured today. The company is currently down by 3.9% at $3.71 a share after going as low as $3.67 (down more than 4%) earlier this morning. Even so, that still leaves Pilbara up a healthy 5.4% in 2022 so far.

Scentre Group (ASX: SCG)

Last but certainly not least in terms of trading volume, we have ASX 200 Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) Scentre Group. We have seen a sizeable 22.41 million Scentre shares bought and sold on the markets so far today. Again, there's not much in the way of news or announcements out from Scentre today.

So we can probably put this volume down to the gyrations of the Scentre unit price this Wednesday. Scentre is currently trading at $3.02 a unit, but has gone as high as $3.05 and as low as $3.01 over the trading day thus far, playing jump rope with the breakeven line for most of the day. It's this volatility that could be behind this elevated volume.

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