* TSX starts Q4 on weak note

* Commodity-linked stocks drag TSX

* TSX down 1.86%

Oct 2 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index fell to its lowest in almost a year as lower gold and oil prices weighed on commodity-linked shares, with a sharp rise in benchmark U.S. Treasury yields also taking toll on dividend-paying sectors like utilities.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was down 364.09 points, or 1.86%, at 19,177.18, hitting its lowest levels since October of last year.

The benchmark index lost 3.7% in September and 3% for the third quarter.

"The markets are trying to say the probability of a recession is getting greater," said Michael Sprung, president at Sprung Investment Management.

Data showed Canada's manufacturing sector downturn deepened in September to its lowest level since shortly after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic as weak market demand weighed on production and new orders.

The S&P Global Canada Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to a seasonally adjusted 47.5 last month, from 48.0 in August.

Canada's gross domestic product shrank in the second quarter and data from July and August show it has stalled in the third quarter.

Materials sector, which includes miners and fertilizer companies, dipped 2.8% as gold extended its decline for the sixth straight session to its lowest since the fourth quarter of last year.

The energy sector dropped 2.4%, tracking a decline in global benchmarks Brent crude oil and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) futures.

Rate-sensitive utilities fell 3.7%, leading declines amid a dramatic run-up in 10-year U.S. Treasury yields that hit 16-year highs.

"U.S. Treasury yields continue to march higher and that's just crushing the dividend-paying stocks like utilities in Canada," said Douglas Porter, chief economist of BMO Capital Markets.

Industrials stocks fell 1.1%.

The broader financials index declined 1.8%.

Shares of Laurentian Bank fell more than 5.9% after the country's ninth-largest lender named insider Eric Provost as CEO, weeks after announcing it would simplify its organizational structure following its failure to find a buyer during a strategic review. (Reporting by Steve Scherer in Ottawa, additional reporting by Siddarth S in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Shweta Agarwal)