European shares fell on Monday, with Germany's DAX and France's CAC on track for their worst month in four years, hit by sliding Chinese stocks and prospects of a near-term U.S. rate increase.

At 0805 GMT, the DAX, the CAC and the euro zone's Euro STOXX 50 were down about 1 percent. Volumes were likely to be thin, with British markets closed for a public holiday.

All three indexes are down about 9 percent in August so far.

The Federal Reserve left open on Friday the possibility of a September increase, though several of its officials said the prolonged turmoil in financial markets might delay the first policy tightening in nearly a decade.

Shanghai stocks, which have plunged more than 40 percent since mid-June, were down about 1 percent on Monday, while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan shed 0.4 percent and was on track for a fall of about 10 percent this month.

Shares in Belgian insurance company Ageas rose about 3 percent after it said on Sunday it had agreed to sell its Hong Kong insurance unit to China-based asset manager JD Capital for $1.4 billion, exiting a business it acquired eight years ago. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie