Philippine share prices plunged 4.7 percent Monday on a sell-off of selected blue chips, dealers said.

The composite index fell 86.43 points to close at 1,769.67, its lowest closing level since November 21. The all-shares index declined 2.5 percent, or 30.15 points, to close at 1,166.51.

A total of 883.69 shares worth P2.14 billion ($44 million) were traded Monday.

Decliners swamped gainers 55 to 24, while 30 issues closed unchanged.

The peso traded at 48.47 against the US dollar in morning trade Monday from 48.56 Friday.

Monday's plunge was largely due to sell-offs in Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) and utility firm Manila Electric Co. (Meralco).

PLDT unit Piltel said Friday it would buy a 20 percent stake in Meralco from the Lopez family, which controls the country's largest power distributor -- a transaction analysts said did not sit well with some investors.

"What can we do, the market perceives the (PLDT) transaction badly. A lot of questions still need to be answered," Ron Rodrigo, research head at DBP-Daiwa Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires.

Goldman Sachs meanwhile said it believes the sell-off could present a short-term trading opportunity "given that this investment represents only 5 percent of the current market capitalization" of PLDT.

PLDT, which accounted for a third of Monday's transactions, dropped 11.7 percent to P1,895 -- its lowest since October 28 -- as investors digested the move.

Meralco shed 14.6 percent to close at P79.

First Philippine Holdings Corp., the company that holds the Lopez family's Meralco stake, rose two percent to P26.