Toronto stocks slumped for a second day in a row on Wednesday, as falling commodities prices dragged down resource shares.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 161.82 points, or 1.22%, at 13,137.72. It had earlier hit a low of 12,959.86.

All but one of the 10 main TSX sectors closed in negative territory.

The materials sector led declines, giving up 3.9%.

Among gold producers, Barrick Gold fell 5.4% to $33.12.

Potash Corp of Saskatchewan fell 4.7% to $164.53.

The oil and gas sector was down 2.3% as crude dropped below US$109 a barrel on worries of slowing demand.

Suncor Energy slipped 2.5% to $53.54. Canadian Natural Resources was down 3.3% at $81.98,

The financials group bucked today’s selloff to gain 1.5%.

Bank of Montreal rose 2.7% to $47.35, while Royal Bank of Canada gained 2% to $49.64.

The carnage spilled over to small-cap stocks for a second day. The junior S&P/TSX composite index fell 58.82 points, or 2.84%, to 1,874.90.

The Canadian dollar closed up 0.63 of cent at US94.25¢ after the Bank of Canada kept its key overnight rate target unchanged at 3%.

In New York, markets closed mixed as signs of increasingly sluggish growth in the United States and the rest of the world rattled investors.

The Dow posted a small gain, but both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq fell.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 15.96 points, or 0.14% at 11,532.88.

The S&P 500 slipped 2.59 points, or 0.20%, to 1,274.94, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index shed 15.51 points, or 0.66%, to 2,333.73.