By Cecile Lefort and Rebecca Howard
SYDNEY/WELLINGTON, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Australian shares, which have risen the past four days, were up again early Tuesday, helped by gains in energy and industrials, while New Zealand stocks also advanced.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO edged up 0.1 percent or 6.05 points to 5,115.6 by 02:16 GMT. The benchmark has rallied nearly 2 percent since touching a two-year trough last week.
Industrial shares led the charge with defence ship manufacturer Austal Ltd ASB.AX up 4.7 percent after clinching a contract with the U.S. navy for designing vessels. Austal's stock prices touched a 1-year low last week. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N14B14H
Also with the wind in its sail was rail freight operator Aurizon Holdings Ltd AZJ.AX which bounced 1.7 percent, pulling away from seven-month lows.
The energy sector outperformed after oil futures jumped away from 2009 lows. Caltex Australia CTX.AX rose 2.5 percent, while Oil Search added 1.7 percent and Woodside Petroleum WPL.AX 0.7 percent.
However, Origin ORG.AX was down 0.2 percent after it revealed plans to reduce its exposure to low oil prices. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nWNBS01TPS
Evan Lucas, market analyst at IG, predicts another tough year ahead for oil prices, seeing $20 a barrel "probable" in the first half of 2016. U.S. crude futures CLc1 and Brent futures LCOc1 last hovered near $34 to $37 a barrel.
The country's "Big Four" banks - Commonwealth Bank of Australia CBA.AX , Westpac Banking Corp WBC.AX , Australia and New Zealand Banking Group ANZ.AX and National Australia Bank NAB.AX - fell as much as 1 percent.
Miners remained in the red even though the price of iron ore showed more signs of stabilisation following a recent tumble. Rio Tinto (L:RIO) RIO.AX was down 0.2 percent and BHP Billiton (L:BLT) BHP.AX 0.1 percent lower.
For more individual stocks activity, click on STXBZ
New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index .NZ50 was up 0.3 percent or 21.14 points to 6,141.96 as sentiment was lifted when U.S. stocks ended stronger. Trading, however, was thin ahead of the Christmas holiday.
The biggest gainers included Fletcher Building FBU.NZ , up 1.4 percent and Spark SPK.NZ , up 1.3 percent.
The biggest losers included Diligent DIL.NZ , trading down 3.2 percent. A2 Milk ATM.NZ was down 1.2 percent, likely on profit-taking after strong recent gains.
(Editing by Richard Borsuk)