US STOCKS-Energy, materials shares drag market lower

By Rodrigo Campos

NEW YORK, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Energy shares were dragging the market lower on Tuesday alongside those in the materials space as oil prices tumbled to their lowest in more than two years and gold and copper fell.

The energy sector of the S&P 500 slipped further into correction territory, falling 10.7 percent from its year high set three months ago. However, it is still posting gains for the year so far, up 1.1 percent.

Commodities prices were pressured by continued strength in the U.S. dollar. The greenback surged to a four-year high against a basket of currencies and a two-year high against the euro.

The Thomson Reuters Jefferies CRB commodity index was down 1.6 percent, on track for its largest daily decline since June 2013.

Copper prices were off 1.1 percent while spot gold was falling for a third straight session, taking the precious metal to levels not seen in nine months.

The S&P 500 materials index fell 1.1 percent, taking its slide so far this week to 1.6 percent, the largest two-day drop in the index in two months.

Index snapshot at 14:11 EDT (1822 GMT):

* S&P 500 was falling 5.55 points, or 0.28 percent.

* Nasdaq Comp was losing 11.95 points, or 0.27 percent.

* Dow industrials was dropping 25.5 points, or 0.15 percent.

* Russell 2000 was falling 10.04 points, or 0.9 percent.

* S&P MidCap was dropping 10.4 points, or 0.75 percent.

* S&P SmallCap was losing 4.56 points, or 0.71 percent.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Nick Zieminski)