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

Massive losses for ASX 200 coal shares are driving volumes this Friday…

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 February 10, 2023 3:24 pm AEDT

It's looking like the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is set to end the trading week on a low point so far this Friday. After a bumpy week, the ASX 200 has taken another turn for the worse today, and is currently down by a nasty 0.71% at just under 7,440 points.

But let's not let this ruin our weekends. So it's time now to take a look at the ASX 200 shares that are at the top of the share market's trading volume charts at present, according to investing.com.

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The 3 most traded ASX 200 shares by volume this Friday

New Hope Corporation Limited (ASX: NHC)

First up today is the ASX 200 coal miner New Hope. This Friday has seen a hefty 11.75 million new Hope shares exchanged on the marks today thus far. There hasn't been any major news or announcements out of New Hope today.

But that hasn't stopped this coal stock from tanking by a rather horrible 8.2% so far this session to $5.33 a share. As we looked into earlier today, coal shares are on the nose thanks to falling coal prices and news of possible widespread discounting in the industry.

It's this steep fall in value that is probably to blame for the high volumes we are seeing.

Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX: WHC)

Another ASX 200 coal share is our next stock worth looking at. So far today, a sizeable 17.05 million Whitehaven shares have changed owners on the ASX boards.

As a fellow ASX 200 coal miner, Whitehaven seems to be suffering from the same trends as New Hope and has also sold off heavily.

Investors have been a little more forgiving with this one, though. The Whitehaven share price has dipped 3.23% to $7.78 at this point of the day. Still, this is almost certainly the source of the volumes we are witnessing.

Sayona Mining Ltd (ASX: SYA)

Our third, final and most traded ASX 200 share this Friday is none other than lithium share Sayona Mining. So far this session, a whopping 23.17 million Sayona shares have been bought and sold.

Sayona has bucked both the trend of the broader market and the coal shares above. The would-be lithium producer is currently up a healthy 2.98% at 24 cents per share.

This could be a consequence of the presentation Sayona released to investors this morning. This told the markets that the company was "on track to deliver lithium production in March 2023".

This, together with the strong gains we are seeing, looks like the cause of the elevated trading volumes on display.

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