THREE supermarkets have announced fuel price cuts as wholesale costs continue to fall.

Asda first said yesterday that costs would be reduced, with Morrisons and Sainsbury's following suit.

Asda cut its national price cap by 1p per litre for petrol and 2p per litre for diesel from yesterday.

Morrisons and Sainsbury's matched the cut starting from today.

It is Asda's fourth fuel price reduction in the past four weeks, dropping the price of petrol by up to 9p per litre.

The latest cut means drivers will pay no more than £1.19 per litre for petrol and £1.30 per litre for diesel at its 319 filling stations.

The company's senior fuel buyer Dave Tyrer said: "Further decreases in the wholesale market mean we are able to reduce our prices again, with Asda's unleaded price dropped by up to 9p per litre since the end of October, and now we're seeing the diesel price drop below £1.30 for the first time in three months."

Morrisons head of fuel Ashley Myers added: "With oil prices continuing to fall, we can now make the third cut in fuel prices this month."

David Pegg, Sainsbury's fuel buying manager, said the cut would assist customers "at this busy, festive time of the year".

RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: "It's great to see drivers benefiting from Black Friday too with this latest price cut at the pumps, which we now need to be followed swiftly by other retailers so the UK average price comes down.

"After so much of 2018 being characterised by rising fuel prices, it's heartening to see prices falling just as we enter the expensive festive period.

"While this is obviously good news, it's disappointing that it has not come sooner as the wholesale price of petrol has been falling for weeks."

Petrol and diesel prices reached a four-year high in recent months.

Over the past six months, the cost of filling up a typical 55-litre family car that runs on petrol or diesel has risen by around £6.

The average cost of petrol at UK filling stations dropped by just over 1p per litre in the past week to £1.28 while diesel fell by a fraction over half a penny per litre to £1.36, according to Government figures.

Owners of diesel vehicles had previously been hit by fuel price rises for 19 consecutive weeks.