Petrol prices have hit a five-month high and are heading back towards $1.50 a litre, new figures show.
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The latest Australian Institute of Petroleum data issued today showed that petrol prices rose to 145.8c a litre last week, the highest they have been for five months.
Prices were down 1c in Canberra, but at 146.2c a litre remain above the national average.
CommSec economist Savanth Sebastian said it was not looking good for coming weeks, either, as the wholesale price hit a three-year high of 139.3c a litre today, up 1.1c on a week ago.
Hope of a resolution to the European debt crisis had supported investors' risk appetite, and that had helped push up global oil prices. This would, in turn, push up prices at the pump.
"CommSec expects prices to lift by a further 1-2c a litre in the next fortnight,'' he said.
"Interestingly petrol prices have now risen by almost 6c a litre since early September. The staggering gain in pump prices is partly due to a weaker Australian dollar, which has compounded the impact of rising regional oil prices."
He said the discount cycle had also changed recently, and it was now spread over 10 days.
"The main hope for motorists is that the Aussie dollar which has rebounded significantly over the past week will have a lasting impact in curtailing petrol price gains in around a fortnight's time,'' he said.
He said petrol was the single biggest weekly purchase for most families, and the high costs were one of the factors contributing to consumer caution. It could also prompt the Reserve Bank to consider interest rate cuts.
Meanwhile, there was a 1.5 per cent fall in the number of new car sales.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics said there were a seasonally adjusted 86,872 new cars sold in September.
"Passenger car sales fell by 0.9 per cent in the month, while sports utility vehicles fell by 5.6 per cent and 'other' vehicles (trucks, utes etc) rose by 2.3 per cent," Mr Sebastian said.
"Overall car sales are up 1.3 per cent on a year ago. Passenger vehicle sales are down by 2.6 per cent, SUVs are 4.6 per cent higher and 'other vehicles' are up by 8.2 per cent."
Overall sales were up 1.9 per cent in the month in the ACT.