UPDATE 3-Vietnamese dong at record low, unchanged rate

(Adds reaction from Thai company)

HANOI, June 12 (Reuters) - Vietnam's central bank left the value of the dong against the dollar virtually unchanged on Thursday in setting the daily exchange rate, a day after an effective 2 percent devaluation as the economy struggles with double-digit inflation and trade imbalances.

The State Bank of Vietnam set the official rate at 16,458 dong to the dollar, just 3 dong firmer than 16,461 on Wednesday, but still a significant gap with the black market and offshore forwards market rates PNDG.

Central bank Governor Nguyen Van Giau was quoted on Thursday as saying in a state-run newspaper that the sharp rate change on Wednesday was "an adjustment" and not an effective devaluation as several analysts had said.

"This is only a normal exchange rate adjustment according to the market and it should not be understood as an indication of devaluation or not devaluation of the domestic currency," Giau was quoted as saying by Thoi Bao Kinh Te Vietnam (Vietnam Economic Times).

Last week Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung was quoted as telling a JP Morgan Chase analyst that the government had no plans to devalue the currency.

At 0503 GMT, the spot dong rate VND= was quoted on the interbank market at 16,613/16,623 dong to a dollar, pushing to the lower limit of the daily trading band that allows the currency to trade 1 percent either side of the official rate.

Since hitting a 2008 high of 15,815 per dollar in the interbank market on March 25, the dong has dropped 4.9 percent, three percent of that since Wednesday.

Analysts say prices on the street hovered around 18,000 dong, and forwards dealing showed a near 30 percent depreciation in one year's time, reflecting the view that authorities have moved too slowly to combat inflation running at more than 25 percent.