PRESS DIGEST - Vietnam newspapers - Aug 6

HANOI, Aug 6 (Reuters) - These are some of the leading stories in the official Vietnamese press on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

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FINANCIAL NEWS:

TUOI TRE

-- The average interest rate on dollar deposits has fallen to around 6.5 percent per year from 8 percent in June, according to quotations by commercial banks.

-- State-run Agribank has lent 1 trillion dong ($60.6 million) to help businesses purchase catfish, said Tran Thanh Hai, head of the Aquaculture Department in Can Tho city.

-- Asia Commercial Bank ACB.HN cut the dollar deposit rate to 5.8 percent per year from 6.4 percent.

-- Banks would soon reduce deposit and lending rates as they could have surplus of dong funds in the coming weeks, said Sacombank STB.HM Chairman Dang Van Thanh.

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THOI BAO KINH TE VIETNAM

-- State-run Agribank has supplemented an extra 10 trillion dong ($606 million) for lending to the agricultural sector.

-- The State Bank of Vietnam has allowed partly private VP Bank to sell an additional 5 percent stake to Singapore's Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC.SI), which now owns 10 percent of VP Bank.

-- Thailand's Seamicro brokerage planned to acquire 50 percent of a good performing company in Vietnam's real estate market, the Vietnam News Agency said.

ECONOMIC AND GENERAL NEWS:

VIETNAM NEWS

-- Samples from 70 ducks in the central province of Quang Ngai showed they had bird flu, the provincial veterinary department said. Vietnam now has bird flu virus confirmed in three provinces, including Quang Ngai.