MUMBAI, April 2 Reuters The Indian rupee gained on Tuesday, ducking the weakness in its Asian peers and instead finding support from exporters39; mild dollar sales and expectations of the central bank39;s intervention.

The rupee was at 83.3625 against the U.S. dollar as of 1005 a.m. IST, mildly stronger than its close of 83.40 on Thursday. The markets were closed on Friday and Monday.

The rupee is likely to be rangebound, with the Reserve Bank of India expected to keep a tab on rupee weakness by selling dollars, said Anil Bhansali, head of treasury at Finrex treasury advisors.

The dollar index was at 105.06, close to its highest since midNovember, after having risen over 0.4 on Monday due to strongerthanexpected U.S. ISM manufacturing PMI data.

Asian currencies declined, led by the Malaysian ringgit39;s 0.4 drop. The Chinese yuan also weakened to a fourandahalfmonth low, prompting the country39;s staterun banks to sell dollars.

The dollarrupee pair is likely to trade with a buy on dips bias and gains are likely to be limited near 83.4042, a foreign exchange trader at a private bank said.

Mild dollar sales by exporters also aided the rupee in early trading, the trader added.

Meanwhile, dollarrupee forward premiums edged lower, with the 1year implied yield down 1 basis point at 1.62, pressured by an uptick in U.S. bond yields as investors pared expectations of a Federal Reserve rate cut in June.

The 1year U.S. treasury yield inched up to 5.09 in Asia trading hours…