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By Noel Randewich
(Reuters) – Moderna shares fell 2% in a volatile session on Tuesday, with the COVID-19 vaccine maker being the highest-listed company on Wall Street ahead of its S&P 500 debut on Wednesday.
More than $ 34 billion in company shares were traded, 17 times more than Moderna’s $ 2 billion average over the past six months, according to data from Refinitiv. About $ 10 billion of those transactions took place in the closing seconds of the session.
Apple was the second most active stock, with around $ 14 billion in shares traded.
After the bell, Moderna fell an additional 1%, also in significant volume.
Moderna joins the S&P 500 as soon as trading begins on Wednesday. That means index funds managing more than $ 5,000 billion will need to have bought about 17% of the company’s stock, according to Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices.
Inclusion of Moderna in the index also means that actively managed funds that measure their performance against the S&P 500 are more likely to consider buying its stocks.
During Tuesday’s session, Moderna jumped 9% and fell 7%. The stock has gained around 18% since July 15, when S&P Dow Jones Indices announced its addition to the S&P 500.
Moderna’s latest stock volatility comes as concerns rise over the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19, now responsible for the majority of new infections. Fears of a resurgence of the virus slammed Wall Street on Monday.
Fueled by the success of its COVID-19 vaccine, Moderna’s stock has grown almost 200% so far in 2021.
(Reporting by Noel Randewich; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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