West Texas Intermediate crude dropped from a 14-month high after an official said Egypt’s Suez Canal is “secure” and ship traffic through the waterway is “normal,” even as violence escalated in Cairo.

WTI fell as much as 1.1 percent as Tarek Hassanein, a Suez Canal Authority spokesman, said that 55 ships are scheduled to pass through the channel. Prices topped $104 a barrel today as Egyptian security forces fought with supporters of ousted President Mohamed Mursi, leaving at least 50 dead. Egypt runs the canal and the Suez-Mediterranean Pipeline, through which Middle Eastern oil moves on its way to Europe.

WTI crude for August delivery declined 17 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $103.05 a barrel at 11:12 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The volume of all futures traded was 25 percent more than the 100-day average. Earlier it rose to $104.12, the highest intraday level since May 3, 2012.

Brent oil for August settlement decreased 28 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $107.44 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The volume for all contracts was 1 percent below the 100-day average. The European benchmark grade traded at a $4.39 premium to WTI, down from $4.50 on July 5.

Gold prices rose after Friday's decline, but growth is constrained by a high dollar.

The spot price fell by 10 percent after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in June that the pace of U.S. economic growth allows the central bank to reduce the volume of buying up bonds this year. Reducing incentives will increase interest rates and the dollar, making gold less attractive to investors outside the United States.

In the second quarter, gold fell by 23 percent, which was a record quarterly decline, and on June 28 the price dropped to a low of nearly three years, $ 1.180,70 an ounce.

The number of employees in the U.S. economy, excluding the agriculture sector in June increased by 195,000, while analysts had expected growth of 165,000, and the unemployment rate was 7.6 percent, the forecast of 7.5 percent. These data fueled fears that the Fed will soon begin to reduce incentives.

On Monday, the dollar rose to a three-year high against a basket of world currencies. Stocks of the world's largest exchange-traded fund backed by gold (ETF) SPDR Gold Trust on Friday fell 0.3 percent to 30.92 million ounces - the lowest level since February 2009.

The cost of the August gold futures on COMEX today rose to a high of $ 1237.40 an ounce.