It's been a fairly dire end to the trading week so far this Friday for the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO). After having a rather volatile week this week, investors have broken into a stampede of pessimism today, sending the ASX 200 Index down by a nasty 2.3% at the time of writing to back under 7,150 points.
Ouch.
But let's not let all of that ruin our weekends. So instead, it's time now to check out the ASX 200 shares that are at the top of the share market's trading volume charts as it currently sits, according to investing.com.
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The 3 most traded ASX 200 shares by volume this Friday
Santos Ltd (ASX: STO)
First share up for discussion today is the ASX 200 energy giant Santos. So far this Friday, a hefty 17.16 million Santos shares have traded owners. There's been no fresh news out of Santos itself today, save for a share buyback notice.
This could be influencing trading volumes, but the more likely explanation for this high volume is the depressing sell-off of Santos shares themselves. At this point, the Santos share price has shed a chunky 2.77% and is down to $7.20 a share.
Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS)
Next up we have ASX 200 lithium share Pilbara Minerals. At this point of the day, a sizeable 25.16 million Pilbara shares have been bought and sold. There hasn't been much in the way of news out of Pilbara either. But this company has been ravaged by the markets today.
At present, Pilbara shares have tanked by a horrid 6.3% and are down to $4.01 each. As we covered this afternoon, this appears to have been driven by lower lithium prices across the market. There's little doubt this nasty share price dive is behind these high volumes.
Sayona Mining Ltd (ASX: SYA)
Our third, final and most traded ASX 200 share this Friday is another lithium stock in Sayona Mining. A whopping 28.55 million Sayona shares have swapped hands as it currently stands on the ASX. This looks to be a very similar situation to that of Pilbara.
There hasn't been any Sayona news from the company itself. But the shares have been decimated by investors today, likely due to similar concerns to those of Pilbara.
But in Sayona's case, this lithium share has lost even more, currently nursing an 8% loss, putting the company down to 23 cents per share. With a loss of that size, no wonder we are seeing elevated share volumes.
