HK shares post first monthly drop in six months

HONG KONG, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Hong Kong shares gave up 1.9
percent on Monday, marking its first monthly loss in six months,
as Shanghai-listed stocks dived to a three-month closing low amid
worries about liquidity in the market drying up.

China Merchants Bank Co (3968.HK) slid 3.2 percent to
HK$16.88 after the country's sixth-largest lender raised its
maximum fund-raising target for a planned rights issue by 22
percent, due to a likely tightening of banks' capital adequacy
rules.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index .HSI finished 374.43 points
lower at 19,724.19, a five-week closing low for the index.

The gauge shed 4.1 percent in August, its first monthly drop
since March.

The China Enterprises Index .HSCE, which represents top
locally listed mainland Chinese stocks, was down 1.4 percent at
11,278.26 while the Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC had tumbled
6.7 percent.
(Reporting by Parvathy Ullatil; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)