* Hungary seen reverting to 75-bps rate cut pace

* China's yuan eases after Monday's sharp bounce

* Turkey's Kurds could sway Istanbul vote in Sunday's local polls

March 26 (Reuters) -

Emerging market stocks recovered some lost ground on Tuesday while currencies lacked momentum, with investors looking for more clues on the timing of U.S. monetary policy easing, while Sri Lankan assets rose after a surprise rate cut.

The MSCI index for EM stocks advanced 0.4% after losing nearly 1.2% in the past two sessions, while the currencies gauge was largely unchanged.

With the Federal Reserve's expectations of three quarter-point rate cuts this year taking the centre stage globally, investors are keenly awaiting Friday's U.S. core personal consumption expenditure (PCE) price index - the central bank's preferred inflation gauge.

"If the market perceives higher U.S. rates for longer, that may lead to inflows into the dollar, and currencies that tend to underperform in that type of environment are higher yielding, higher risk ones- typically emerging market currencies," said Matthew Ryan, head of market strategy at global financial services firm Ebury.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka issued a surprise 50 basis point interest rate cut, and said there was space for further easing as it prioritises growth to steer the economy out of its worst financial crisis in decades.

The Sri Lankan rupee strengthened 0.2% against the dollar, scaling a nine-month high, while stocks climbed 1% to a one-week high.

Hungary's forint strengthened 0.3% against the euro ahead of a central bank decision during the day where it is expected to revert to a slower pace of easing after the currency fell to one-year lows.

"Nominal rates are still very high, inflation have been coming down very sharply, so there's more scope to continue cutting rates... the baseline is for a 75 basis point cut," Ebury's Ryan added.

Among regional peers, Czech crown strengthened 0.2% against the euro.

China's yuan eased against the dollar after a sharp bounce on Monday, pressured by underlying expectations that easier domestic monetary policy and broad greenback strength will lead to more weakness in the local currency.

The South African rand fell 0.4% ahead of fourth-quarter local employment figures.

As for developments on Turkey's local elections on Sunday, many of the Kurds are set to put aside party loyalty and back Tayyip Erdogan's major rival in Istanbul, knocking the president's hopes of winning back the city he once ran, according to pollsters.

Falling for the third straight session, Turkey's benchmark stock index declined 1.5% on the day, touching a one-week low.

HIGHLIGHTS:

** China pushes banks to speed approvals of new loans to private developers- sources

** BRICS development bank aims to make $5 bln in loans in 2024

(Reporting by Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K)