Toronto stocks dropped Thursday, weighed down by falling oil and gold prices. Meanwhile, U.S. markets also closed lower, with the Nasdaq falling significantly due to weakness in the technology sector.

The S&P/TSX composite index fell 89.73 points, or 0.70%, to 12,640.68.

Six of the 10 TSX main sub-groups were down, with the energy index giving up 1.14%.

Light, sweet crude futures plunged $1.76, or 3.4%, to close at US$50.48

EnCana Corp. fell $1.29, or 2.35%, to $53.59.

The materials index fell 1.58%, while the gold sub-index fell 2.08%.

Gold futures fell $5.20 to close at US$628.10 an ounce.

Yamana Gold Inc. fell 58¢, or 4.04%, to $13.78.

The information technology sector fell 2.03%, while the telecommunications services group fell 1.27%.

Research in Motion Inc. fell $7.53, or 5.01%, to $142.67.

Telus Corp. fell $1.04, or 1.89%, to $53.96.

The Canadian dollar stayed flat at US85.24¢.

The S&P TSX Venture composite index dipped 17.12 points, or 0.60%, to 2,838.63.

In New York, markets fell, with the Nasdaq composite index dropping on disappointing earnings guidance from Apple Computer Inc. Apple stock dropped 6.3% despite posting strong earnings for the past quarter.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 9.22 points at 12,567.9, the Nasdaq fell 36.21 points, or almost 1.5%, at 2,443.21, while the S&P 500 index closed off 4.25 points at 1,426.37.