GM shares rise on better-than-expected sales

After a topsy-turvy day of trading, GM shares closed up 25 cents, or 2.2 percent, at $11.75. The automaker's shares dipped to $10.71 shortly after the market opened and then peaked at $13.26 after the release of its sales figures.

The Detroit-based automaker reported an 18.2 percent drop in sales from a year ago, but it retained its traditional U.S. sales lead over Toyota Motor Corp., which posted a 21.4 percent decline.

Meanwhile, shares of Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford rebounded slightly after falling to a new 52-week low.

Ford said its sales fell 27.9 percent in June and blamed surging gas prices for knocking its light truck sales down 35.4 percent.

Ford shares closed at $4.71, down 10 cents or 2.1 percent. They had fallen to $4.41 shortly after the market opened, passing the previous low of $4.46 set Monday.

On Monday, GM shares plummeted to $10.57 at one point. The last time GM shares dropped below that price was on Sept. 22, 1954, when they hit $10.47, according to the Center for Research in Security Prices at the University of Chicago. The price is adjusted for splits and other changes.

The automakers' shares have taken a beating in recent weeks, hurt by rising oil prices and a weak U.S. economy. Those same factors also have driven consumers away from gas guzzling sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks and toward smaller, more fuel efficient cars and crossovers.

On Tuesday, oil settled at a new high of $140.97 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on worries about tight supply and mounting tensions in the Middle East. Prices at one point rose as high as $143.33, just 34 cents shy of Monday's trading record.

Gas prices also hit a new record. The price of a gallon of regular rose a tenth of a penny to an average of $4.087 a gallon nationwide, according to AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express.