Mumbai, May 30 (Zee News): After incessant hike in fuel prices for 16 consecutive days, prices of petrol and diesel finally saw a reduction on Wednesday. Price of petrol was slashed by 60 paise per litre in Delhi and 59 paise per litre in Mumbai. There was a reduction of 56 paise per litre in the price of diesel in Delhi, whereas in Mumbai the price came down by 59 paise per litre.

With the latest reduction in prices, petrol now costs Rs 77.83 per litre in Delhi and Rs 85.65 per litre in Mumbai. Diesel price stands at Rs 68.75 per litre in Delhi and Rs 73.20 per litre in Mumbai.

Notably, domestic petrol and diesel prices touched a record high on Friday.

Petrol and diesel prices in India are linked to Singapore gasoline prices and Arab Gulf diesel prices , which mostly track movements in crude oil prices.

Oil prices fell to about $75 a barrel as Saudi Arabia and Russia said they were ready to ease supply curbs that have pushed crude prices to their highest since 2014 [O/R].

India's three state-run fuel retailers - IOC, BPCL and Hindustan Petroleum Corp - control most of country's fuel retail market and tend to move their fuel prices in tandem.

Meanwhile, the Oil Ministry has also given its in-principle approval for futures trading in petrol as well as diesel. A final clearance in this regard is expected from regulator Sebi soon.

"The Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry has given an in-principle nod to launch petrol and diesel futures contracts and we are hoping that Sebi will give final approval in this regard soon," ICEX managing director and chief executive officer Sanjit Prasad had said on Monday.

The Indian Commodity Exchange (ICEX) had approached Sebi seeking its nod to launch petrol and diesel futures contracts. Following this, the capital markets watchdog had sought views from the ministry in this regard.