Japan's Sanyo Electric said on Thursday it plans to double annual production of AA and AAA size rechargeable batteries as more consumers choose the economical and environmentally friendly option.

Its shares climbed as much as 5.5 percent on the news.

Investors have recently been picking up shares in battery makers as they see an increasingly rosier future for rechargeable and car batteries amid surging oil prices and worries about global warming.

Sanyo, the world's largest maker of lithium-ion batteries used in personal computers and mobile phones, plans to expand output of nickel-metal hydride rechargeable batteries to 50 million a year at its existing plant in the current business year that started on April 1.

The company, which is restructuring with the help of shareholder Goldman Sachs, has said it aims to lift sales at its rechargeable battery and solar cell operations by 50 percent to 600 billion yen ($5.6 billion) under its current three-year business plan.

Sanyo shares were up 3.7 percent at 281 yen as of 0059 GMT, against a 1.9 percent slide in the benchmark Nikkei average.

($1=107.85 yen)

Source:Reuters