Petrol and diesel prices on Thursday were hiked by 60 paise per litre each - the fifth straight daily increase in rates since oil PSUs ended an 82-day hiatus in rate revision.
Petrol price in Delhi was hiked to Rs 74 per litre from Rs 73.40 while diesel rates were increased to Rs 72.22 a litre from Rs 71.62, according to a price notification of state oil marketing companies.
Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or VAT. This is the fifth daily increase in rates in a row since oil companies on Sunday restarted revising prices in line with costs, after ending an 82-day hiatus. In five hikes, petrol price has gone up by Rs 2.74 per litre and diesel by Rs 2.83.
After broad gains in Asia, European stock markets were less buoyant, with Germany's DAX edging up 0.1% to 12,866 as the government reported that industrial production plunged by nearly 18% in April. That compared a nearly 9% drop in March at the height of Europe's coronavirus lockdowns.
The CAC 40 in Paris fell 0.1% to 5,193, while Britain's FTSE 100 was up 0.1% at 6,493. US futures were higher, auguring more gains on Wall Street when it opens, with the contracts for the S&P 500 up 0.6% and those for the Dow industrials up 0.8%.
Crude oil prices were steady after major oil producing nations agreed over the weekend to extend a production cut of nearly 10 million barrels of oil a day through the end of July to counter the blow to demand from the coronavirus pandemic.
