The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has had a horror Tuesday so far today, continuing the sell-off pattern we have seen take flight over the past few weeks.
At the time of writing, the ASX 200 is down by a lamentable 2.71% at 6,946 points. In fact, just 10 companies in the ASX 200 are trading in the green.
But let's not focus too much on those depressing figures, and instead let's take a look at the ASX 200 shares that are currently at the top of the ASX's volume charts, according to investing.com.
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The 3 most traded ASX 200 shares by volume this Tuesday
Sydney Airport (ASX: SYD)
Sydney Airport is our first ASX 200 share to check out today. This eponymous company has had a hefty 22.3 million shares bought and sold at this point of the trading session. There's not too much out from Sydney Airport his Tuesday, apart from some routine paperwork showing that UBS Group has increased its total shareholding from 6.07% to 7.17% over the past month or so.
However, the company did release a traffic update last week that might still be influencing this high volume today. The Sydney Airport share price hasn't done anything too dramatic either. It's currently 0.12% down at $8.64 a share after stints in both positive and negative territory today. It's this combination that is probably behind the elevated trading volumes we are seeing.
Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS)
Our next share up this Tuesday is ASX 200 lithium producer Pilbara. Pilbara Minerals has had a notable 28.4 million shares bought and sold thus far today. Again, there hasn't been much in the way of news or announcements out of Pilbara recently, apart from yesterday's notice that the company's quarterly activities report will be released on 31 January.
So it's probable the high volumes we are currently seeing are the result of the nasty share price fall Pilbara has endured so far today. At the time of writing, Pilbara is down a depressing 5.91% at $3.26 a share.
Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS)
ASX 200 telco Telstra is our final share of the day. A whopping 30.25 Telstra shares have found a new home at this point of the day, topping out the ASX 200 volume charts as it currently stands.
Again, we can likely point to a big share price movement to explain this high volume. Telstra shares are currently down by a steep 3.33% at $3.92 a share. That puts this company's 5-day losses at close to 8%. Since Telstra has a relatively low share price compared to most other ASX blue chips, big moves like this can easily result in the company topping the volume tables.
