MUMBAI, Nov 24 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee is expected to open higher against the U.S. currency on Thursday after the dollar index plunged following disappointing U.S. data and a less hawkish outlook on interest rates from U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers.

The rupee is tipped to open around 81.62-81.66, compared with 81.8450 in the previous session.

The dollar index declined more than 1% on Wednesday to below 106 and Treasury yields fell on the back of the U.S. data and the Fed minutes.

U.S. business activity weakened further in November and minutes of the Fed November meeting indicated that a substantial majority of policymakers reckoned that slowing the pace of increase would likely soon be appropriate.

The minutes reaffirmed expectations that the Fed will most likely raise rates by 50 basis points in December, down from 75 basis points in the last four meetings. The terminal rate expectations are at 4.75% to 5.25%.

Meanwhile, oil prices fell more than 3% overnight on Russian price cap talks.

There were several positives for the rupee in the form of oil, the dollar and the (USD/INR) pair will likely see "decent" selling interest at open from intraday traders, a spot trader at a foreign bank said.

The rupee will do less well than other Asian currencies, but that is "largely a function of a less reactive nature of the currency", the trader said.

The Koran won led Asian currencies higher, climbing 1.1% to the dollar. Asian shares rose and U.S. equity futures extended the overnight advance.

KEY INDICATORS:

** One-month non-deliverable rupee forward at 81.88; onshore one-month forward premium at 15.5 paise

** USD/INR NSE November futures settled at 81.94 on Wednesday

** USD/INR Nov forward premium at 2.0 paise

** Dollar index down at 105.76

** Brent crude futures down 0.4% at $85.1 per barrel

** Ten-year U.S. note yield at 3.70%

** SGX Nifty nearest-month futures up 0.5% at 18,340

** As per NSDL data, foreign investors sold a net $29 million worth of Indian shares on Nov. 22

** NSDL data shows foreign investors bought a net $20 million worth of Indian bonds on Nov. 22 (Reporting by Nimesh Vora; Editing by Savio D'Souza)