West Texas Intermediate and Brent crudes dropped after weaker-than-estimated U.S. jobs growth in August and as Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists agreed to a cease-fire.

Both benchmark oils are poised for weekly declines. U.S. employers added the fewest number of jobs this year in August, Labor Department data showed today. The two sides agreed to stop fighting at 6 p.m. local time today, Heidi Tagliavini, a representative of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said after talks in Minsk, Belarus. Russia is the world's largest energy exporter.

"The jobless report was disappointing," Kyle Cooper, director of research with IAF Advisors and Cypress Energy Capital Management in Houston, said by phone. "It's evidence that the economy isn't going gangbusters. This raises demand concerns, especially when economies elsewhere are looking weak."

WTI for October delivery slipped 85 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $93.60 a barrel at 10:58 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices are down 2.5 percent this week and 4.9 percent this year.

Brent for October settlement dropped 87 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $100.96 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The contract is down 2.2 percent this week. The European benchmark crude traded at a $7.36 premium to WTI, compared with $7.38 at yesterday's close.

Gold prices rise to three-month low as slowing down the rally in equity markets caused by the decisions of the ECB and after the release of the employment report in the United States.

Increase in the number of jobs in the United States slowed in August to its lowest level this year, breaking with a series of steady increases, which occurred six months in a row despite the uneven economic growth.

The Labor Department reported that employment in non-farm payrolls rose by a seasonally adjusted 142 thousand. Last month. The unemployment rate, however, fell in August to 6.1% from 6.2% the previous month. Compared to the same period last year, the unemployment rate decreased by 1.1%. Economists had expected growth of the number of employees at the level of 222 thousand., And reduce unemployment to 6.1%.

The European Central Bank on Thursday cut interest rates to new lows, and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said that the central bank in October will start buying securitized loans (ABS) and asset-backed bonds to revive lending in the euro area.

Although the easing of monetary policy generally favorable for gold, the positive effect of making the ECB offset by a stronger dollar, noted in the report, analysts UBS.

The world's largest reserves of the gold-exchange-traded fund SPDR Gold Trust on Thursday fell by 4.78 tonnes to 785.73 tonnes.

Demand in the physical markets is activated as prices come down. Surcharges in China, the world's largest consumer of gold, rose to $ 05.04 an ounce from $ 3 on Thursday.

The cost of the October gold futures on the COMEX today rose to $ 1273.60 per ounce.