Local share prices continued to weaken due to concern over the rising number of cases of a new strain of COVID in the UK.

The main index shed 22.50 points or 0.31 percent to close at 7,202.39 with only the Property index rising.
Volume was higher at 22.72 billion shares worth P10.09 billion as losers swamped gainers 203 to 39 with 33 unchanged.
“Philippines shares fell amid volatile trading on Monday as U.K re-imposed lockdown over the spread of mutated COVID19 strain was discovered, overshadowing the deal reached for a new U.S fiscal aid,” said Regina Capital Development Corporation Managing Director Luis Limlingan.
AAA Equities Head of Research Chris Mangun said “The PSEi ended slightly lower after recovering from the brutal selloff that we saw earlier in the trading session. We saw massive selling in the first few hours of trading as investors panicked, possibly caused by the fresh round of lockdowns in Europe caused by the mutated covid-19 strain.”
He added thought that, “Buyers were quick to pick up shares of blue chips that were sold down. Second liners and speculative issues also took a beating after the substantial rally that it has seen in the prior trading days.“