By Liana B. Baker, MarketWatch SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Canadian stocks suffered Wednesday as a lower commodity prices caused a broad sell-off of energy and metals and mining stocks. The S&P/TSX composite index (CA:ISPTX 11,200, -190.23, -1.67%) fell 1.6% or 181 points to a level of 11,209. Earlier in the session, the benchmark index had fallen more than 200 points. Crude-oil futures dropped below $75 a barrel, accelerating their Thursday losses, as U.S. data showing reinforced concerns over weakness in energy demand. Crude for March delivery fell $2.23, or 3%, to $74.75 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex. Canadian energy stocks were dragged down with shares of Suncor Energy (CA:SU 31.58, -1.10, -3.37%) declining 3% and shares of Teck Resources (CA:TCK.B 35.39, -1.47, -3.99%) falling 3.7%. Gold futures fell more than 2% on Thursday, as concerns about debt in several European countries drew investors back to the safety of the U.S. dollar, which reduced gold's appeal as a hedge against currencies. Gold stocks were some of the biggest decliners on the TSX. Shares of Yamana Gold (CA:YRI 10.65, -0.51, -4.57%) fell 3.8%, shares of Goldcorp. (CA:G 36.06, -1.23, -3.30%) dropped 2.7%, shares of Barrick Gold Corp. (CA:ABX 36.79, -1.26, -3.31%) declined 2.5% and Kinross Gold Corp. (CA:K 17.64, -0.83, -4.49%) fell 4.2%. Some Canadian stocks performed well on Thursday based on favorable corporate earning. Open Text Corp. (CA:OTC 47.97, +4.94, +11.48%) rose 9.6% after the technology company exceeded expectations in its quarterly report released Wednesday . BCE Inc. (CA:BCE 28.07, +0.45, +1.63%) rose 1.5% after the telecommunications company reported earnings in the fourth quarter that met analysts' expectations. The loonie weakened on Thursday as investors sought the U.S. dollar, which benefited from the sell-off in gold. One U.S. dollar was buying $1.0701, up 0.8%.

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