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

The ASX 200 is up today, but our three most active shares are in the red…

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 December 9, 2022 3:39 pm AEDT

Finally, a day of green ink for the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO)!

After a torrid week of mostly down days, the ASX 200 looks set to snap out of its recent slump and post a positive return this Friday. At the time of writing, the ASX 200 has added a healthy 0.58%, putting the index at just over 7,215 points.

So let's now dig a little deeper into these end-of-week moves and check out the shares that are presently at the top of the ASX 200's share trading volume charts, according to investing.com.

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The 3 most traded ASX 200 shares by volume this Friday

Downer EDI Ltd (ASX: DOW)

After its inaugural appearance for the week yesterday, engineering services company Downer again makes the ASX 200's most traded shares at this point of today's session. So far this Friday, a hefty 13.54 million Downer shares have been traded on the ASX boards.

Unfortunately for investors, this looks like a consequence of the depressing announcement Downer made yesterday.

The company fronted up to investors admitting that it had overstated $30-40 million worth of earnings. The Downer share price fell more than 20% on this news yesterday, and is down another 4% so far today to $3.66 a share.

Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS)

Next up we have ASX 200 lithium leader Pilbara Minerals. This session has had a sizeable 23.61 million Pilbara shares trade hands as it currently stands. There hasn't been much in the way of news or announcements out of Pilbara recently.

So this high volume is probably a byproduct of the share price falls that Pilbara is continuing to endure. Pilbara shares have been volatile today, breaking even several times over the session.

At present, the company has lost 0.78% and is down to $4.45 a share, but has traded between $4.38 and $4.54 today.

Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO)

Our third, final and most traded ASX 200 share today is none other than Pilbara's fellow lithium stock Core Lithium.

This Friday has had a whopping 44.82 million Core shares bought and sold at this point. This could be a consequence of the dim outlook ASX broker Goldman Sachs came out with for Core this week.

As we covered at the time, Goldman has slapped a sell rating on Core Lithium, with a $1 per share price target. Core Lithium shares are down another 2.12% today, which puts its losses for the week at more than 15%. Ouch.

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