DETROIT ? Kmart Corp. shares were up more than 4 percent Friday after the retailer showed a smaller loss in its first earnings report since exiting bankruptcy, although sales deteriorated.

The discount retailer reported Thursday that its second-quarter loss narrowed to $5 million, or 6 cents a share, from $293 million, or 58 cents a share, a year ago.

“We are pleased with the progress we continue to make in our business,” Julian Day, Kmart president and chief executive, said in a statement. The Troy, Mich.-based company emerged from bankruptcy protection in May.

Excluding interest, reorganization costs, income taxes and discontinued operations, Kmart said it would have posted an $8 million profit, compared with a loss of $264 million in the second quarter of last year.

Shares of Kmart Holding Co., the publicly-traded parent of the discount retailer, rose $1.23 to close at $30.67 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.