PRESS DIGEST - Vietnam newspapers - April 1

HANOI, April 1 (Reuters) - These are some of the leading stories in the official Vietnamese press on Tuesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

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FINANCIAL NEWS:

TUOI TRE

-- The Vietnam Banking Association asked its members to follow the guidelines of the Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung strictly, holding back sales of collateralised stocks and repo contracts as part of efforts to prop up the stock markets.

-- Vietnamese dong deposits rose sharply in the last few days. Commercial banks said people were rushing to deposit dong before April 2, when banks would cut annual interest rates to 11 percent on dong deposits with maturitiues of more than 6 months from 12 percent.

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THOI BAO KINH TE VIETNAM

-- Western Bank has raised its registered capital to 1,000 billion dong ($62.6 million) from 200 billion dong. The bank raised loan limits for stock investors to 200 billion dong from 40 billion dong.