Share prices opened the trading week in the red, dragging the index below the 6,300 level. Concerns about domestic economic growth amid global market uncertainties weighed on the index.
The 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange index ended at 6,254.36, down 85.02 points, or 1.34 percent.
The wider all shares index closed at 3,735.25, a drop of 32.16 points, or 0.85 percent.
The peso recovered slightly to 57.04 to the U.S. dollar on Monday, up from 57.11 on Aug. 8.
“The local market opened the week on a negative tone as lack of fresh positive leads allowed worries over the local economy’s outlook to take over sentiment,” said Japhet Tantiangco, research head at Philstocks Financial Inc.
“Investors are concerned on how the local economy could accelerate its growth amid lingering economic uncertainties caused primarily by U.S. protectionist policies,” he added.
Analysts said investors turned cautious because of disappointing second-quarter gross domestic product numbers and mixed earnings reports from listed companies.
Among the indices, only the services sector finished in the green, rising 0.20 percent. Financials declined 2.31 percent, while property dropped 1.97 percent.
Value turnover reached P6.87 billion, boosted by foreign buying, which recorded inflows of P421.37 million.
Emperador Inc. was the main index gainer, increasing 2.87 percent to P16.50. Universal Robina Corp. was at the bottom, declining 4.16 percent to P85.20.
Shares of DigiPlus Interactive Corp. were the most actively traded stocks. Its share price rose 21.38 percent to P32.65 after the local bourse reported that the stock will be included in the index starting Aug. 18.
