TORONTO - The Toronto Stock Exchange has pared earlier triple-digit losses but still closed in the red.

The S&P/TSX composite index was down 83.87 points at 12,518.54 after falling more than 200 points earlier in the session.

Wall Street markets also lost ground with the Dow Jones industrial average down 100.96 points at 11,139.3. The Nasdaq index fell 6.5 points to 2,473.83 and the S&P 500 was down 8.73 points at 1,165.24.

The Canadian dollar was off 0.58 of a cent at 101.03 cents US as commodity prices slipped.

The October oil contract fell 43 cents to US$86.02 a barrel. Copper prices lost seven cents to US$4.06 a pound.

Meanwhile, gold declined $3.60 to US$1,873.30 an ounce.