EMERGING MARKETS-Stocks rally for third day; Indonesia delivers surprise rate hike

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Poland's unemployment rate at 5.3% in March

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Thai central bank intervenes to ease baht volatility

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Foreigners add net $32.7 bln to EM portfolios in March -IIF

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Stocks up 1.6%, FX adds 0.1%

By Bansari Mayur Kamdar

April 24 (Reuters) - Emerging market stocks rose on Wednesday, extending their recovery for a third day, supported by a more than 2% jump in the Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan bourses, while Indonesia's rupiah strengthened after the central bank raised interest rates unexpectedly. The rupiah rose 0.4% against the dollar after Bank Indonesia's surprise 25 bps hike, in efforts to support the currency which has fallen to four-year lows on growing risk aversion and a delay in the expected timing of any U.S. policy easing.

"We reckon that today's hike will prove to be a one-and-done, and continue to believe that BI will start a gradual normalisation of policy in Q4, as soon as headline inflation falls below its actual 2.5% target," said Miguel Chanco, chief emerging Asia economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics. This followed Hungary's central bank saying there is "no need to rush" with further rate cuts after lowering its base rate by 50 basis points on Tuesday to support the weakening forint .

A strong dollar and worries about U.S. rates has put pressure on emerging market currencies in the last few days, with some analysts now expecting that this could slow down monetary easing cycles for some in the region. The Bank of Thailand has intervened in currency markets at times to ease any excessive moves in the baht while the current policy rate is robust and conducive to economic recovery, central bank officials said.

On Wednesday, the MSCI index for emerging market currencies edged 0.1% higher by 0835 GMT, but a firm dollar continued to limit gains.

The Polish zloty slipped 0.1% against the euro. Poland's registered unemployment rate fell to 5.3% in March compared with 5.4% in February, data showed, in line with analysts' expectations.

Emerging market stocks, meanwhile, jumped 1.6%, with markets in Korea and Taiwan advancing more than 2% each on a boost from technology stocks.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 2.2%, extending gains for third straight session, while stocks in China also tracked the rally in Asian peers. Meanwhile, foreigners added about $32.7 billion to their emerging market portfolios in March, a fifth consecutive month of overall foreign net flows to EMs, the Institute of International Finance said on Tuesday.

South Korea is considering easing real-time reporting requirements for investors in the nation's $1.8 trillion bond market as it seeks inclusion into FTSE Russell's global bond index, three people familiar with the matter said. A senior Chinese central bank official suggested on Tuesday that the bank's buying and selling of treasury bonds in the secondary market could be used for liquidity management and as a monetary policy tool.

HIGHLIGHTS:

** Thailand's $13.5 bln household stimulus plan gets cabinet approval ** Unemployment biggest worry in India, world's fastest growing economy - Reuters poll ** China turns the heat up on cross-border investments in local government debt, sources say

text_section_type="notes"For TOP NEWS across emerging markets For CENTRAL EUROPE market report, see For TURKISH market report, see For RUSSIAN market report, see

(Reporting by Bansari Mayur Kamdar in Bengaluru)