US STOCKS-S&P 500, Dow pause near records in Christmas Eve trade

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* Nasdaq ekes out gain for ninth straight record close

* Industrial sector drops, real estate gains

* Uber rises as founder Kalanick resigns from board

* Dow down 0.13%, S&P down 0.02%, Nasdaq up 0.08%

(Updates with early close of U.S. market)

By Lewis Krauskopf

Dec 24 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Dow industrials

slipped in a shortened, pre-Christmas session on Tuesday, as

investors paused after a record-setting rally fueled by

improving U.S.-China trade relations that has put the market on

course for its best year since 2013.

The Nasdaq eked out a gain, helped by a rise in Advanced

Micro Devices Inc AMD.O shares, to register an all-time high

close for a ninth straight session. All three major indexes

posted record closes on Monday.

The benchmark S&P 500 index is set for its biggest annual

percentage gain since 2013, with the market's mood a sharp

contrast with Christmas Eve a year ago, which was the tail end

of a severe swoon in which the S&P 500 came within a hair of

confirming a bear market.

“It's a quiet market after a week of gains,” said Quincy

Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial in

Newark, New Jersey. “Compared with last year at the same time,

it's a major relief as we go into the period of much lower

volume.”

Dec. 24, 2018, turned out to be a recent closing low for the

S&P 500, with U.S. stocks beginning a rally that would carry

through into 2019. The benchmark S&P 500 is up over 28% so far

this year, fueled by optimism over improving U.S.-China trade

relations, interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve and better

than feared economic data and corporate profits.

“After this strong run, day after day of the market gaining,

it stands to reason that ... you're going to see the market flat

or even some profit taking,” Krosby said.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 36.08 points,

or 0.13%, to 28,515.45, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 0.63 point, or

0.02%, to 3,223.38 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 7.24

points, or 0.08%, to 8,952.88.

Industrials .SPLRCI lagged the most among S&P 500 sectors,

while real estate .SPLRCR was the top gainer.

Volumes are expected to be thin this week as traders settle

in for the holidays. The main U.S. stock exchanges closed at 1

p.m. ET on Tuesday and remain shut on Wednesday.

Only roughly 2.8 billion shares changed hands in U.S.

exchanges on Tuesday, compared with the nearly 7 billion daily

average over the last 20 sessions.

In company news, shares of chip company AMD rose 2.4% after

RBC raised its price target. Uber Technologies Inc UBER.N shares rose 0.4% after

co-founder Travis Kalanick severed his last ties with the

ride-services company. Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a

1.35-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.49-to-1 ratio favored advancers.

The S&P 500 posted 21 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the

Nasdaq Composite recorded 91 new highs and 28 new lows.