UPDATE 1-Portuguese household deposits hit record despite austerity

* Deposits rise 2 pct from June, 7 pct from Dec

* Bank loans drop

* Portuguese banks' loan books still outstrip deposit base (Adds analyst comments)

LISBON, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Portuguese households' deposits grew for the ninth straight month to a record 126.9 billion euros in July even as the country implements a tough austerity programme and joblessness is near record highs, Bank of Portugal data showed on Wednesday.

The consistent rise in deposits is good news for Portuguese lenders that have been shut out of the interbank funding market for more than a year as a result of the country's fiscal crisis, showing that austerity and sovereign debt problems are not causing a run on its banks.

It may also ease concerns in markets that Europe's banks are relying too much on borrowing and should be bringing bloated loan books more into line with their deposit bases.

Cumulative deposits by households were up about 2 percent in July from June and nearly 7 percent higher than at the end of last year, the Bank of Portugal said in its monthly bulletin, without explaining the trend.

"This rise results from the fact that those who can save, are saving more due to concerns about the economic situation, channelling savings into deposit accounts that offer attractive rates," said Filipe Garcia, economist and head of Informacao de Mercados Financeiros consultants.

He added that a falling stock market and the cancellation of a range of tax incentives for pension plans and savings bonds have left few alternatives to deposits, while the Portuguese generally remain trustful of their banks.

Although total deposits including those made by the government and companies fell just over 1 percent from June to 237.5 billion euros ($325.6 billion) they still stood almost 7 percent higher than at the end of 2010, the data showed.

Loans to households and companies slipped, though total loans of 333.6 billion euros still far outstripped deposits of 237.5 billion euros, meaning the country's banks have more deleveraging to do.

Portugal's 78 billion euro EU/IMF bailout programme, agreed in May, includes a 12 billion euro funding line for bank capitalisation needs. The Bank of Portugal says the country's banks are doing well but still need to sell assets to raise their capital ratios and resilience to crises. ($1 = 0.729 Euros) (Reporting By Andrei Khalip and Sergio Goncalves; Editing by Catherine Evans)