Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, the country’s top car maker, raised prices of all its models on Tuesday, sending its shares up as much as 11% as investors rallied behind the company after months of falling sales appeared to have levelled in December.

The company, which lost USD 500 million in production due to labour strikes that shut down its factories for weeks last summer, has been hit the hardest by a car sales slowdown, caused by high interest rates and rising fuel costs.

Sales of small cars have stalled as the increased cost of credit and ownership deter potential buyers. Maruti Suzuki’s sales fell 53% in October as production returned to full strength, but slid only 7% last month. The company raised prices of all its vehicles by 0.3 to 3.4% due to adverse foreign exchange movements and a rise in commodity prices.

(Sourced from Reuters)