West Texas Intermediate crude fell to almost a three-week low on speculation that a cash crunch may restrain economic growth in China, the world’s biggest energy-consuming country.

WTI futures dropped as much 1.1 percent in New York while Brent oil traded in London dipped below $100. The People’s Bank of China said the nation should fine-tune its policies as a squeeze in the banking system risks exacerbating a slowdown.

China’s manufacturing will shrink at a faster pace this month, a preliminary indicator showed last week. The country is also the world’s second-largest oil consumer, accounting for 11 percent of global demand in 2012, according to BP Plc (BP/)’s Statistical Review of World Energy. The U.S. is the biggest user at 21 percent.

WTI crude for August delivery declined 50 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $93.19 a barrel at 9:18 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures fell as much as $1.02 to $92.67 a barrel, the lowest level since June 4. The volume of all futures traded was 8 percent below the 100-day average.

Brent oil for August settlement declined 80 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $100.11 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. Volume for all contracts was 5 percent lower than the 100-day average.

Gold prices reduced after a 7 percent drop last week in connection with the strengthening of the dollar and the Fed's plan to reduce the incentive program.

Gold fell by 24 per cent since the beginning of the year, partly due to the Fed's plans to reduce the volume of buying up bonds this year from the current $ 85 billion a month. Also on the market affects the sharp rise in interest rates on short-term loans in China last week.

Stocks of the world's largest exchange-traded fund backed by gold (ETF) SPDR Gold Trust on Friday fell by 0.54 percent to 989.94 tonnes - the lowest level in more than four years.

Physical demand in India - the world's largest consumer of gold - also dropped due to the weakening rupee and increase the import duty on precious metals.

Pressure on the price of gold has had a decrease in the growth forecasts of prices for precious metals analysts Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse.

The main reason for the revision of the forecast Goldman Sachs was the improvement in the U.S. economy, which increases the risk of falling gold prices. By the end of this year, Goldman Sachs expects the price of gold at $ 1,300 an ounce, down 9.4% compared with the previous forecast. Thus by 2014, the price drops to $ 1,050 per troy ounce, down 17.3% from the previous forecast.

The cost of the August gold futures on COMEX today dropped to 1277.20 dollars an ounce.