A turbulent day for the Toronto Stock Exchange on Wednesday saw equities take an early-day plunge and then shoot right back up, but not enough to finish the day in positive territory.

Amid continued uncertainty surrounding the financial bailout plan south of the border, the S&P/TSX composite index closed down 38.39 points, or 0.33%, at 11,714.51.

The financials group managed a second straight day of gains, up 0.66%. This included a 5.48% boost for shares of ING Canada Inc., which closed at $37.93. But such gains were offset by losses for others, including a 2.15% drop for TD Bank Financial Group shares, which closed at $62.70.

The energy subindex fell 2.67% as oil futures traded down. Crude oil for November delivery fell US$1.78, or 1.8%, to US$98.89 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The drop in oil futures contributed to declines at such energy heavyweights as Suncor Energy Inc., which fell $3, or 6.82% to $41, and Encana Corp., which dropped $2.50, or 3.68% to close at $65.46.

The TSX materials group was flat for the day, while the diversified metals group lost 3.72%. This included a dip of $2.31, or 7.64%, for shares of Teck Cominco Ltd., which closed at $27.91, and a 5.17% decline for Inmet Mining Corp. shares, which fell to $47.

Gold for December delivery gained US$6.50, or 0.7%, to end at US$887.30 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The sub-gold index increased 1.77%.

The Canadian dollar inched up 0.19¢ to close at US94.16¢.

The S&P/TSX Venture composite index also traded down on Wednesday, losing 8.35 points, or 0.59%, to close at 1,406.65.

Stocks in New York fell slightly on Wednesday after new economic data showed U.S. manufacturing production contracted in September at its fastest pace since 2001.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 19.59 points, or 0.2%, at 10,831.07. The S&P 500 Index fell 5.3 points, or 0.3%, to close at 1,161.06. The Nasdaq composite index lost 22.48 points, or 1.1%, finishing the day at 2,069.40.