ACCRA, Feb 22 (Reuters) - The Ghana Stock Exchange ended slightly down on Monday, but volume increased significantly with Pioneer Tobacco accounting for the bulk of it, the bourse report showed.
The all-share index lost 0.12 point to 874.78 and is now up just 0.74 percent on the year to date.
Volume increased substantially, with a total of 1,062,700 shares traded on Monday for a total of 528.5 million cedis ($217,500).
The most active share, Pioneer Tobacco, was up five cedis to 405, with 1,017,700 shares traded. The only other riser was French trading company CFAO (CFAO.GH), up two cedis to 55.
According to broker Databank Reseach, investors are generally reluctant to take advantage of the decline in the market to invest, preferring to adopt a wait-and-see stance prior to the release of full year results.
Mobil Oil (MOGL.GH), which fell 10 percent last week, shed another 100 cedis to 17,900 cedis and car sales company Mechanical Lloyd (MLC.GH) fell five to 245.
Databank Research said that the market was likely to remain bearish this week, ``but buying pressure for Unilever Ghana Ltd (UNIL.GH) and Ghana Breweries Ltd (GBL.GH) may provide some cushioning for the index.''
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