South Africa's rand strengthened against the dollar on Friday, putting it on track to end a week marked by the annual budget higher, after Moody's signalled the nation's spending plans did not weaken its policy credibility. Stocks rose, with Truworths International among the big gainers after management presented a detailed half-year results.

The rand rose 0.37 percent to 13.9675 to the dollar by 1607 GMT compared with the previous day's close of 14.0200 in New York and the week's low of 14.3700 on the day of the budget. On Thursday, Moody's, the last of the big three ratings agencies to maintain an investment grade on South Africa, said that the government's decision to raise its spending ceiling by 16 billion rand ($1.14 billion) did not weaken fiscal policy credibility.

Copyright Reuters, 2019