West Texas Intermediate crude declined with losses in gasoline as U.S. inventories of the fuel expanded for a third week, threatening to depress refining margins. Brent also fell.

Gasoline stockpiles grew by 3.38 million barrels last week and supplies around New York Harbor, where futures contracts are delivered, were at the highest seasonal level since 2008, Energy Information Administration data show. WTI briefly pared losses after the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits dropped to an eight-year low, then fell further.

"The increase in gasoline and distillate inventories and the fall in demand is weighing on the entire complex," said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital LLC, a New York-based hedge fund that focuses on energy. "We didn't rise off the surprisingly strong weekly jobs report this morning, which shows the inherent weakness of the market."

WTI for September delivery slipped 47 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $102.65 a barrel at 10:35 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The volume of all futures traded was 20 percent below the 100-day average for the time of day.

Brent for September settlement was 64 cents, or 0.6 percent, lower at $107.39 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The European benchmark crude traded at a premium of $4.74 a barrel to WTI on ICE, compared with $4.91 yesterday.

Gold prices down by a stronger dollar after strong data from the U.S. labor market.

Number of new applications for unemployment benefits decreased significantly last week, reaching minimum values ​​at the same time for 8.5 years, providing further evidence of improvement in the labor market.

The Labor Department said: seasonally adjusted number of initial claims for unemployment benefits fell for the week ending July 19, 19, 000 - to the level of 284 000. Latter value was the lowest since February 2006. Economists forecast that the number of appeals will be 310 thousand Meanwhile, the figure for the previous week was revised upward - to 303 thousand from 302 thousand

Also, the data showed that the average number of calls in the last four weeks fell last week for 7250 - to 302 500, which is the lowest since May 2007.

At the same time, the demand for gold in China has decreased by 19% in the first half of 2014, said the China Association of Gold on Thursday.

In the first half of the total demand for gold in the country fell by 136.91 tons and amounted to 569.45 tons, according to a statement posted on the website of the association.

The most significant decline in demand affected gold bullion. Demand for it has fallen by 62%. Demand for gold coins fell by 44%.

Nevertheless, in some segments of the demand for gold has increased: the demand from jewelers rose 11%, while industrial demand has increased by 11%.

Last year, China became the world's largest consumer and producer of gold, for the first time ahead of India in this regard.

The cost of the August gold futures on the COMEX today dropped to $ 1287.50 per ounce.

(raw materials / closing price /% change)

Light Crude 103.20 +0.08%

Gold 1,305.10 +0.03%