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China stocks edge up as holiday travel rebound lifts sentiment

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Hungary c.bank could start "cautious" rate cuts once CPI slows - minister

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Adani's market loss swells to $66 bln; India share dip

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Pakistani rupee hits all-time low to meet IMF demands

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EM stocks extend losses, currencies add 0.3%

Jan 30 (Reuters) - Emerging market stocks fell on Monday, as gains in Chinese shares after a week-long Lunar New Year break were offset by a slide in Indian equities led by the losses in Adani group companies and Hong Kong stocks receded from 11-month highs.

The MSCI's index for emerging market stocks fell 0.7% at 0845 GMT on Monday.

In India, most Adani group shares extended their sharp drop as the conglomerate's rebuttal of a U.S. short-seller's criticism failed to pacify investors, driving stock market losses for the companies to $66 billion over three days.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index retreated 2.7%, after two days of sharp gains.

Chinese stocks edged higher as markets resumed trading after a week-long Lunar New Year break, while Taiwan shares hit their highest since late June.

Emerging market stocks have rallied nearly 9% since the start of this year, outperforming their currency counterparts.

"At a headline level, the January rally in emerging market equity has been supported by the December announcement that China would scrap the country's zero COVID policy and falling inflation expectations," said Charles Sunnucks, emerging markets analyst at Oldfield Partners.

Emerging market currencies gained slightly, rising 0.3%.

In central and eastern Europe, the Hungarian forint slid 0.4% against the euro.

Hungary's January annual inflation is expected to rise above 25% but in February, price growth will start slowing which could then allow the central bank to gradually start reducing its interest rates, the minister for economic development said on Sunday.

The Russian rouble hovered near 69.50 against the greenback, with some support set to ebb later this week as companies make month-end tax payments.

The Pakistani rupee hit a record low, extending its sharp fall since an artificial cap on the currency was lifted last week to move it to a market-based exchange rate.

"An acute mix of very low foreign reserves, wide current account deficit, high short-term external debt, high inflation, an unsustainable currency rate management, combined with a government lacking the political mandate to take unpopular corrective actions all point to further downside for the (Pakistani) rupee," said Hasnain Malik, director of emerging and frontier markets equity strategy at Tellimer Research.

Elsewhere, the South African rand and the Turkish lira weakened slightly against the dollar. For GRAPHIC on emerging market FX performance in 2023, see http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh For GRAPHIC on MSCI emerging index performance in 2023, see https://tmsnrt.rs/2OusNdX

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For CENTRAL EUROPE market report, see

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For RUSSIAN market report, see (Reporting by Bansari Mayur Kamdar in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)