New Delhi, Mar 21 (IANS): Petrol prices declined by 7 paise across the metropolitan cities on Thursday after remaining unchanged for the last two days, data from the Indian Oil Corp's website showed.

In the national capital, petrol was priced at Rs 72.71 per litre, down from Rs 72.78 on Wednesday. In Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai, price of the fuel was at Rs 74.79, Rs 78.33 and Rs 75.52 per litre respectively, against the previous levels of Rs 74.86, Rs 78.40 and Rs 75.59 per litre.

Although domestic fuel prices declined on Thursday, largely, the price trend has been on an upward movement during the first three months of 2019, except a few days of price drop. In Delhi, petrol prices have risen around Rs 4 per litre since January 1, 2019.

The uptrend in domestic prices is largely attributed to the recent bullish global crude oil prices. The benchmark Brent crude oil is currently trading around $68 per barrel.

Under the dynamic pricing policy, the retail fuel prices in the country are based on the a 15-day average of global crude prices along with the rupee-US dollar exchange rate.

In tandem with petrol prices, the cost of diesel also declined on Thursday. In Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai, diesel was sold for Rs 66.72, Rs 68.51, Rs 69.89 and Rs 70.50 per litre, down from Rs 66.80, Rs 68.59, Rs 69.97 and Rs 70.59 per litre on Wednesday.