SINGAPORE -- Creative Technology, the world's biggest maker of computer sound cards, narrowed its net loss to five million U.S. dollars for the first quarter to September from 12.8 million dollars a year ago, the company said Friday.

Sales in the first quarter rose to $160.6 million in the September quarter, up from $180.4 million for the same period in the previous year, Creative said in a statement, AFP reported.

Creative, which is also listed on NASDAQ, said a strong performance from its personal digital entertainment and communications product categories bolstered the company's first quarter performance.

"We came in at the top end of our revenue guidance with solid sales performance in a very tough economic climate," said Craig McHugh, President of Creative Labs Inc, the U.S. subsidiary of the company.

"We saw year-over-year growth of more than 50 percent in both our personal digital entertainment and communications product categories," he said.

McHugh said the firm expects sales to improve in the second quarter to 225-240 million dollars with the lead-up to the year end festive season to bolster revenues.

"We are optimistic about the holiday period," McHugh said in a conference call after the September quarter results were released.

At 10:05 A.M. (0205 GMT), shares of Creative were trading at 13.90 Singapore dollars (7.80 U.S.) on the local exchange, up one dollar from Thursday's close.