PRESS DIGEST - Hong Kong - Aug 6

HONG KONG, Aug 6 (Reuters) - These are some of the leading stories in Hong Kong newspapers on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

HONG KONG ECONOMIC TIMES

-- Hong Kong and Guangdong authorities have reached consensus on the financing for the Zhuhai bridge project. The two governments and Macau would pay a combined 15.73 billion yuan ($2.30 billion) for the 37.45 billion yuan project and the rest will rely on financing.

APPLE DAILY

-- Bank of East Asia (0023.HK) reported its worst decline in half-year earnings since 1998 on Tuesday. The local lender saw a 52.4 percent fall from the previous year in its interim net profit to HK$894 million ($114.6 million) when the worst market estimate was a 20 percent drop. Provisions including those for its collateralised debt obligations and structured investment vehicles exposure exceeded HK$1.5 billion.

-- Fuelled by strong growth in its Asian operations, Standard Chartered's (2888.HK) interim results stand out so far as the best among listed lenders. It reported a 30 percent increase in net profit to US$1.785 billion for the first half of the year.

MING PAO DAILY NEWS

-- UBS has predicted Shun Tak Group (0242.HK) to fall into the red with a net loss of HK$94 million in the first half, which could be the group's first-ever interim loss.

SING TAO DAILY

-- MTR Corp (0066.HK) announced its first interim results after the merger with KCRC. Half-year earnings rose 15 percent to nearly HK$4.7 billion.

SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST

-- Town planners, architects, surveyors, social workers, language teachers, headhunters and doctors are major beneficiaries of the 11 supplementary agreements signed between Hong Kong and Guangdong on Tuesday on the implementation of the latest phase of the Closer Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) free trade pact.

THE STANDARD

-- The People's Bank of China is to allow banks to increase lending this year by 5 percent to 10 percent over their combined initial quota of 3.7 trillion yuan to help troubled sectors, sources said.

HONG KONG ECONOMIC JOURNAL

-- The Hang Seng Index dived 565 points to close at 21,949 on Tuesday. Oil and resource plays dragged down the index.