MUMBAI, Jan 25 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee is expected to open slightly higher against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday, helped by an uptick in most of its Asian peers following a decline in Treasury yields.

The rupee was seen around 81.62-81.64 per dollar in early trade, compared with 81.72 in the previous session. The local currency on Monday had briefly managed to scale the 81 level.

Since then, the tide has turned due to dollar purchases by importers and by public sector banks, likely for the Reserve Bank of India. The rupee has been among the worst-performing major Asian currencies over the last two sessions.

The rupee will probably struggle to hold its opening uptick, based on the recent price action, a trader at a private sector bank said.

They added that the rupee should be quiet until we hear from the Federal Reserve next week and India's budget is out of the way. Both are due on Feb. 1.

"For USD/INR, 81.30 acts as a support while 81.90 is a resistance", said Kunal Sodhani, vice-president of Shinhan Bank (Global Trading Centre).

The offshore Chinese yuan and the Korean won inched up on Wednesday, while the dollar index was slightly lower at 101.84. The dollar index is searching for direction around the 102 level amid a surging euro and a fall in Treasury yields.

The 2-year Treasury yield declined overnight and is now down 30 basis points so far this month.

On the Fed, a downshift to a 25 basis points rate hike next week is almost certain. The key question is whether there will be another similar-sized rate hike in March, followed by rate cuts later this year.

KEY INDICATORS:

** One-month non-deliverable rupee forward at 81.68; onshore one-month forward premium at 11.75 paisa

** USD/INR NSE Jan futures settled on Tue at 81.6650

** USD/INR jan forward premium at 1.75 paisa

** Dollar index down at 101.84

** Brent crude futures up 0.4% at $86.5 per barrel

** Ten-year U.S. note yield at 3.46%

** SGX Nifty nearest-month futures down 0.3% at 18,088

** As per NSDL data, foreign investors bought a net $27.6 million worth of Indian shares on Jan. 23

** NSDL data shows foreign investors bought a net $3.8 million worth of Indian bonds on Jan. 23 (Reporting by Nimesh Vora; Editing by Savio D'Souza)