After what has been a rough week so far, it looks like the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is on track to make it three out of three losses in a row this week.
After investors snatched a loss from the jaws of a gain yesterday, the ASX 200 is on its way down again today, currently nursing a hefty 0.57% fall. That puts the index at just under 7,220 points.
Hopefully, tomorrow will yield us some better results. But rather than dwelling on investors' misfortunes this week, let's instead take a look at the ASX 200 shares that are presently topping the share market's trading volume charts right now, according to investing.com.
The 3 most traded ASX 200 shares by volume this Wednesday
Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN)
First up today is the national carrier, ASX 200 travel share Qantas. This Wednesday has had a decent 12.36 million Qantas shares take to the ASX skies so far. This might be an aftershock following the airline's profit guidance yesterday. It could also be a result of a new buy rating from ASX broker Goldman Sachs today that we covered this morning.
Perhaps thanks to these factors, Qantas shares are having a ripper day today, currently up 1.18% at $6.44 each. It's probably a combination of all of these events that explains Qantas' high trading volumes.
South32 Ltd (ASX: S32)
Next up we have ASX 200 miner South32 to consider. So far this session, a sizeable 14.82 million South32 shares have been dug up and sold. We haven't had any recent news out of South32. But this company has had a rather volatile day this Wednesday.
The company started out strong this morning, rising as high as $4.05 a share. But investors seem to have gotten cold feet over these gains and are now pricing the company at $3.98 each, down 0.62% for the day so far. It could be this volatility that explains why we are seeing so many South32 shares flying around.
Sayona Mining Ltd (ASX: SYA)
Third and finally today, let's take a glance at ASX 200 lithium stock Sayona Mining. An impressive 23.3 million Sayona shares have been bought and sold on the ASX boards so far this session. Again, there haven't been any fresh developments out of this company either.
So this column could be a byproduct of some more volatility that we've seen with Sayona shares today. The company is currently down by 1.36% at 21.7 cents per share. That's despite Sayona rising as high as 22.5 cents earlier this morning (up 2.27%). All of this bouncing around might just explain Sayona's presence on this list right now.