JOHANNESBURG, Oct 15 (Reuters) - South Africa's rand firmedagainst the dollar in early trade on Monday as markets digestednews that ratings agency Moody's opted to hold off publishing areview of the country's debt on Friday, Oct. 12, as planned.
* The rand was 0.5 percent stronger at 14.4475 perdollarat 0700 GMT, having closed in New York at 14.5200 on Friday.
* Moody's said it would not publish a review of SouthAfrica'sdebt on Friday as was widely expected, without giving a reasonfor the delay or the next scheduled release date.
* Moody's rates South Africa's foreign and local currencydebt ontheir lowest investment grade rung of Baa3, with a stableoutlook.
* "South Africa remains Baa3 with stable outlook, and theabsenceof action implies that there is no significant change in thecredit view from the last time that action was taken," RandMerchant Bank analysts Mpho Tsebe and Elena Ilkova wrote in anote.
* In fixed income, the yield on the benchmark governmentbond duein 2026 was flat at 9.245 percent.
* On the stock market, the Top-40 index was down0.82percent while the broader all-share edged 0.66 percentlower in early trade. (Reporting by Nomvelo ChalumbiraEditing by Raissa Kasolowsky)