Toronto stocks tumbled on Tuesday as oil prices fell and worries over the health of the U.S. financial system rocked the broader market.

The S&P/TSX composite index plunged 383.73 points, or 2.79%, to finish at 13,357.56. Earlier in the session the index was down over 450 points.

Nine of the 10 TSX main groups fell, lead by energy, financial services, metals and materials.

Oil prices tumbled after U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke offered a pessimistic picture of the U.S. economy.

The price of light, sweet crude for August delivery later settled at US$138.74 a barrel, down US$6.44 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The TSX energy group was down more than 4%. Suncor fell 6% to $57.92, while EnCana dropped almost 4% to $83.22.

The financial services subgroup was down 2.3% as investors reacted to fallout from problems with U.S. government-sponsored mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

TD was down 4% at $53.51, while CIBC gave up 3% to finish at $49.56. Royal Bank and Bank of Montreal both fell just over 2% to $40.18 and $39.27, respectively. Scotiabank dipped 1.4% to $43.20.

The information technology group lost 2.3%, with Research in Motion falling $2.51 to close at $106.21.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index posted losses similar to the big board, falling 68.26 points, or 2.8%, to 2,310.08.

The Canadian dollar closed up 0.29¢ from Monday’s close, at US99.77¢. It traded above US$1 earlier in the day, after the Bank of Canada announced it was keeping the benchmark overnight interest rate at 3%.

In New York, U.S. markets closed mixed with blue-chips falling while the tech-heavy Nadaq posted a slight gain.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 92.65 points or 0.84%, to 10,962.54, and S&P 500 dropped 13.39 points, or 1.09%, to1,214.91.

The Nasdaq rose 2.84 points, or 0.13%, to 2,215.71.

Fed chief Bernanke told the U.S. Congress that the economy is likely headed for slow growth for the next several years, and there is much uncertainty even in that prediction.