The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) halted trading past mid-trade on Monday after the key index plummeted over 10 percent, TV reports said.
At 11:23 a.m. local time (0323 GMT), the 30-company composite index fell 10.03 percent to 1,757.46 points, Philippine TV network ABS-CBN News reported.
This is the first time for the 81-year-old Philippine Stock Exchange to implement the "circuit-breaker" rule, under which the market shall stop trading in all stocks for 15 minutes if the main index drops by at least 10 percent from the previous day's close.
The rule was adopted to give investors time to digest the impact of an unusual market drop and help restore normalcy in the equity market.
The trading suspension can be employed only once in a trading day and will not be resorted to if the drop occurs 30 minutes or less prior to the market close, according to the report.
"It's a sad day for us but this is not surprising. We're suffering as much as the rest of the world and this is not caused by internal matters," PSE president and chief executive officer Francis Lim told another TV network GMA News.
Meanwhile, local currency peso declined to its lowest level against the U.S. dollar in nearly two years in early trading on Monday.
The currency touched a 22-month low of 49.35 pesos against the greenback from its closing price of 48.991 on Friday.
The peso has depreciated by 20 percent against the greenback from 41.52:1 at the start of the year.
In 2007, the Philippine currency appreciated by nearly 20 percent. It was one of the best performing currencies in Asia last year.