TORONTO (Reuters) - The Toronto Stock Exchange dragged, breaking its six-session advance, as falling commodity prices prompted profit-taking in the energy and materials sectors.

Resource shares, which have shown strong gains in recent sessions, led the way down as oil and gold prices both stepped away from Monday's peak levels.

On the upside, financial shares, which have suffered a beating recently, got support from stronger-than-expected third-quarter earnings from Sun Life Financial.

The financial sector rose as investors were hoping for an interest rate cut from the US Federal Reserve today. The TSX has been plagued by worries over the health of the US economy, Canada's biggest trading partner. A rate cut could help dispel some of that pessimism.

"It's pretty simple today - metals down, oils down, banks up," said Paul Hand, managing director at RBC Capital Markets.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 115.27 points, or 0.8 percent, at 14,312.08. Overall, half of the TSX's 10 main groups finished lower.

The price of oil fell $3.15 to $90.38 a barrel on profit-taking and an unexpected recovery in exports from Mexico after last week's disruption by foul weather. Crude hit a record high of $93.80 in the previous session.

On the TSX, the heavyweight energy sector followed prices down, dropping 2.2 percent. Suncor Energy slid C$2.99, or 2.9 percent, to C$99.66 and Husky Energy fell C$1.12, or 2.6 percent, to C$42.88.

Weaker gold prices also led to profit-taking in materials shares, which had climbed for the past five sessions. The sector was in the negative 2.4 percent, while spot gold fell to $781.25 an ounce in reaction to weak oil.

Barrick Gold dropped C$1.62, or 3.9 percent, to C$40.37, and GoldCorp dipped 79 Canadian cents, or 2.4 percent, to C$32.08.

Sun Life was the biggest advancer by weight after the company posted a seven percent increase in earnings. Sun Life jumped C$2.35, or 4.5 percent, to C$55.20.

Elsewhere, Bank of Montreal gained 44 Canadian cents, or 0.7 percent, to C$62.09, while the sector as a whole was up one percent.

"(Financials) had a pretty bad time of it. It's not surprising they should have an up day after being beaten up so badly," said John Kinsey, portfolio manager at Caldwell Securities.