Wellington, Dec 29 NZPA - The New Zealand sharemarket managed modest gains in holiday-thinned trade on the first day back after Christmas.

The benchmark NZSX-50 index ended the day up 9.58 points at 2677.64, having been nearly 20 points ahead at one stage.

There were 27 rises and 24 falls, with 76 stocks traded. Total turnover was 12,881,898, with a value of $27,608,686.09.

Campbell Stuart of UBS said the day was quiet.

"First day back ex-Christmas and the participation's scarce, the clients are scarce, and the market's probably up a few points on a couple of slightly better days internationally."

Australia had started strongly today but then faded, he said.

Among the top stocks, Fletcher Building managed to add 10c in the first few hours but faded after lunch to finish down 20c at 560.

Contact Energy managed to stay in positive territory, ending up 12c at 714, off the day's high of 719. Telecom ended up 2c at 228.

Along with Contact, the day's bigger gainers included Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, which ended up 10c at 320, and Freightways which ended up 9c at 299.

The losers included Port of Tauranga, which dropped 15c to 630. On Christmas Eve, privately-owned logistics company NZL Group said it had the right to start a container terminal on port land.

Mainfreight lost 5c to 450, Sky TV was also down 5c, to 385, Infratil was ended down 3c at 167, Air NZ was down 2c to 86, and Restaurant Brands was down 2c to 62.

Sky City added 3c to 305, Trustpower was up 6c at 706, and The Warehouse slipped 2c to 349.

Among dual-listed stocks Westpac added 47c to 1980 , Telstra finished up 8c at 444, while Lion Nathan ended down 5c to 950 .

In the US, stocks advanced on light volume on Friday (local time) as energy stocks climbed alongside oil prices while General Motors rose after its financing arm qualified for government funds, helping it stave off potential bankruptcy.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.6 percent to end at 8515.55. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 0.5 percent to 872.80, and the Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.4 percent to 1530.24.

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