It's been a rough hump day session for the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) and many ASX 200 shares so far this Wednesday. After clocking another new record high just yesterday, it seems ASX investors are in the mood to take a bit of a breather.
At the time of writing, the ASX 200 Index has pulled back by 0.27% and is back down to around 8,295 points. But this drop in the markets hasn't stopped a bevy of ASX 200 shares from minting new 52-week highs of their own this Wednesday.
So, without further ado, let's check out the no-fewer-than-16 ASX 200 shares defying the market to push into new territory.
16 ASX 200 shares hitting new 52-week highs this Wednesday
Here are the lucky ASX 200 shares at new 52-week highs this session:
| ASX 200 share | Gain (or loss)* | Current share price* | New 52-week high |
| Bank of Queensland Ltd (ASX: BOQ) | 5.82% | $6.64 | $6.64 |
| Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX: EVN) | 5.12% | $4.93 | $4.95 |
| Regis Resources Ltd (ASX: RRL) | 3.96% | $2.50 | $2.50 |
| Newmont Corporation (ASX: NEM) | 3.01% | $83.57 | $83.68 |
| Life360 Inc (ASX: 360) | 2.74% | $22.46 | $22.54 |
| Perseus Mining Ltd (ASX: PRU) | 2.17% | $2.83 | $2.84 |
| Ramelius Resources Ltd (ASX: RMS) | 1.75% | $2.32 | $2.32 |
| Insignia Financial Ltd (ASX: IFL) | 2.01% | $3.04 | $3.04 |
| Judo Capital Holdings Ltd (ASX: JDO) | 1.53% | $1.79 | $1.80 |
| Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST) | 1.00% | $16.68 | $16.74 |
| REA Group Ltd (ASX: REA) | 0.21% | $224.62 | $227.33 |
| Amcor plc (ASX: AMC) | 0.48% | $16.91 | $16.96 |
| HMC Capital Ltd (ASX: HMC) | (0.65%) | $9.11 | $9.23 |
| Emerald Resources N.L. (ASX: EMR) | 0.72% | $4.19 | $4.21 |
| HUB24 Ltd (ASX: HUB) | 1.38% | $66.00 | $66.73 |
| Netwealth Group Ltd (ASX: NWL) | 0.85% | $28.43 | $28.47 |
*At the time of writing
Why are these shares defying the market today?
It's not uncommon for shares to buck the market and make new 52-week highs on a down day. However, to see 16 of them is unusual.
What jumps out is the number of gold miners here. Seven of these 16 shares are gold stocks – Evolution Mining, Regis Resources, Newmont, Perseus Mining, Ramelius Resources, Northern Star Resources and Emerald Resources, to be precise.
For anyone who caught our '5 things to watch on the ASX 200' article this morning, this might not come as too much of a surprise. In that article, my Fool colleague James noted that ASX 200 gold shares "could have a good session after the gold price rose overnight". The precious metal is currently hovering close to its own record high at US$2,664 an ounce.
Considering that fact, it's not a shock to see so many gold shares break out and buck the market today. The other stocks hitting new highs this Wednesday mostly come from the financial and tech sectors.
Financial shares are outperforming as a whole today, while tech stocks are diverging. Some, including Life360 and HUB24, are obviously faring well. But others, including Xero Ltd (ASX: XRO) and WiseTech Global Ltd (ASX: WTC), are dropping.
It will be interesting to see whether these ASX 200 shares continue to move higher throughout the day and week.
