Stocks posted slim gains in New York yesterday despite an early downturn, but the buying was hesitant with the market holding such big gains before the impending crush of company profit reports.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average finished 15.96 points higher at 9,105.74 after recovering from a morning deficit of 60 points.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 6-to-5 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,319 up, 1,598 down and 603 unchanged.

NYSE volume totalled 574.59 million shares, down sharply from 655.65 million on Thursday.