JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s rand strengthened early on Tuesday, consolidating gains that saw the unit rally to near two-week highs against the dollar as investors anticipating a rate hold by the Federal Reserve kept demand for the local currency alive.

* At 0640 GMT, the rand was 0.3 percent firmer at 13.9750per dollar, a touch off Monday’s session high of 13.9600. * Rand at firmest level since Sept. 8, breaching testingtechnical resistance at 14.10 for the first in seven sessions.Next landmark 13.8500. * Analysts expecting further gains with risk in favour aheadof U.S. Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan policy decisionsWednesday, local rates decision Thursday. * On the fixed-income market, the yield for the benchmarkgovernment issue due in 2026 down 1.5 basis point to 8.61percent. * Blue chip stocks futures index down 0.2 percent,indicating bourse opening lower at 0700 GMT.

(Reporting by Mfuneko Toyana; Editing by Tiisetso Motsoeneng)