MUMBAI, Dec 6 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee ticked higher on Wednesday aided by likely dollar inflows and forward premiums rose amid a drop in U.S. Treasury yields.

The rupee was at 83.3150 as of 12:35 p.m. IST, up slightly from its previous close of 83.3825.

Most Asian currencies were range-bound, while the dollar index was largely steady at 103.98 after rising 0.3% overnight.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield remained below the 4.20% handle in Asia hours after an overnight decline following U.S. labour market data showed job openings in October fell to the lowest in over two and a half years

Near-maturity U.S. yields fell overnight as well with the 1-year treasury yield falling 4 bps to 5.07% before ticking higher in Asia.

The rupee hasn't gained substantially over the last few weeks despite a host of positive cues including pick up in equity inflows as local dollar demand has kept up the pressure.

The rupee was likely aided by equity-related inflows on Wednesday but "dollar demand has stayed strong ... even today oil companies are buying dollars," a foreign exchange trader at a state-run bank said, referring to the rupee's range-bound movement.

Foreign investors have bought Indian equities worth $2.5 billion in December so far, already pushing the monthly tally to the highest since July, NSDL data shows.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) likely conducted dollar-rupee buy/sell swaps worth $600-$800 million on Tuesday, intended to neutralise the liquidity impact of its spot market dollar sales on Tuesday and to absorb inflows.

"The movement in the rupee has shown that silent trading sessions are often followed by significant market movements," said Amit Pabari, managing director at FX advisory firm CR forex.

There might be a delayed effect leading the rupee to higher levels, Pabari added.

Meanwhile, far forward premiums inched up with the the 1-year USD/INR implied yield rising 3 bps to 1.61%, the highest in close to two weeks. (Reporting by Jaspreet Kalra; Editing by Varun H K)