US oil price falls on weak jobs data

US oil price dropped Tuesday as September jobs data of the United States missed market estimates. U.S. employers added 148,000 jobs in September, falling short of expectations, the Labor Department said Tuesday. The unemployment rate edged down to a near-five-year low of 7.2 percent from 7.3 percent in August, mainly due to a lower labor- force participation rate, it said. The weaker-than-expected jobs data dampened the expectation of future crude demand of the United States, the largest oil consumption nation of the world. And traders believed that the U.S. central bank wouldn't taper its quantitative easing until early next year, as the government shutdown had posed a negative effect on the economy. On Wednesday, the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the Energy Department's statistical arm, will release its report covering U.S. crude supplies of last week. Market experts expected that U.S. crude inventories would continue to rise. U.S. crude supplies increased by 4 million barrels to 374.5 million barrels for the week ended Oct. 4, earlier EIA data showed. This weekly inventory data was delayed because of the partial government shutdown. Light, sweet crude for November delivery decreased 1.42 U.S. dollars to settle at 97.8 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for December delivery increased 33 cents to close at 109.97 dollars a barrel.