Toronto stocks dropped sharply Wednesday, as falling commodity prices and weakness in the financials sector waylaid the broader market. Investors also took in news that telecom giant BCE Inc. was converting itself into an income trust.

The S&P/TSX composite index fell 136.01 points, or 1.16%, to 11,619.14.

Five of the 10 TSX main sub-groups were down.

The energy index dropped 2.01%.

Crude oil for November delivery closed down 93¢ at US$57.59 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Petro-Canada fell $1.00, or 2.019%, to $44.73.

The materials index dipped 1.02%, while the gold sub-sector fell 1.78%.

Gold for December delivery climbed by 30¢ to close at US$576.50 an ounce on the Nymex.

Barrick Gold Corp. fell 82¢, or 2.48%, to $32.22.

The financials sector was off 1.56%.

The telecommunications sector was up 0.33% as BCE shares moved $1.37 higher to $32.92.

The Canadian dollar was down 0.34 of a cent to US87.97¢.

The S&P TSX Venture Exchange dropped 18.28, or 0.77%, to 2,343.48.

In New York, markets turned lower on some disappointing corporate results.

The Dow industrials dropped 15.04, or 0.13%, to 11,852.13, but sank as low as 73 points in intraday trading. The Nasdaq Composite dipped 7.16, or 0.31%, to 2,308.27, and the S&P 500 Index lost 3.47, or 0.26%, to 1,349.95.