HONG KONG, April 26 Reuters The dollar held near a twoyear peak on Tuesday as concerns about the economic impact of China39;s COVID19 lockdowns held up the greenback39;s safehaven appeal and aggressive U.S. interest rate hike expectations kept bond yields elevated.

The dollar index , which measures the greenback against six main peers, was 0.13 lower at 101.59 after hitting a twoyear peak of 101.86 overnight.

It has gained 3.3 so far this month, which would be its largest month of gains since November 2015.

Further dollar index upside remains a good bet. China growth risks are rising as authorities pursue an aggressive COVID campaign, conditions around Ukraine remain volatile and 39;Fedspeak39; remains as hawkish as ever, said analysts at Westpac in a note.

China39;s financial hub of Shanghai has now been under strict lockdown to fight COVID for around a month, while Beijing overnight ramped up plans for masstesting of 20 million people and fuelled worries about a looming lockdown.

Hawkish comments by various central bank policymakers last week also raised the prospect of aggressive interest rate hikes. The most significant of these came from the U.S. Federal Reserve, which markets expect to raise rates by a half point at each of its next two meetings. FEDWATCH

China39;s offshore yuan was slightly higher however, at 6.5572 per dollar after the People39;s Bank of China said late on Monday it would cut the amount of foreign exchange banks must hold as reserves….