Toronto stocks fell heavily Wednesday on weakness in the resource sectors, while the Canadian dollar slipped against its U.S. counterpart.

The S&P/TSX composite index dropped 222.22 points, or 1.72%, to close 12,701.44.

Eight of the 10 TSX main sub-groups were down, with the energy index shedding 3.88% of its value.

Light, sweet crude for February delivery fell $2.73, or 4.5%, to close US$58.35 as warmer weather in the U.S. northeast led to weakness in the futures price.

Nexen Inc. fell back $2.76, or 4.27%, to $61.85.

The materials sector fell 4.01%, while the gold sub-index fell 3.49%.

Gold futures lost $8.20 to close at US$629.80 an ounce. Goldcorp Inc. lost $1.53, or 4.55%, to $32.09.

The financials sector inched ahead 0.02%. Manulife Financial Corp. gained 7¢, or 0.18%, to $39.57.

The S&P TSX Venture Exchange fell 91.04, or 3.04%, to 2,916.34.

The Canadian dollar hit a nine-month low, closing at US85.30¢, down 0.64 of a cent.

In New York, markets closed higher, but well off earlier gains. Investors took in positive economic news from the manufacturing sector, but that was offset by the release of the minutes of the last Federal Reserve meeting, which seemed to suggest concern over a weakening domestic economy, but without indications of the timing of any rate cut.

The Dow Jones industrial index advanced 11.37 points, or 0.09%, to 12,474.52, the Nasdaq inched rose 7.87, or 0.33%, to 2,432.16, and the S&P500 fell back 1.70, or 0.12%, to 1,416.60.