The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that Canada's main stock index closed higher on Wednesday, helped by gains in material and energy stocks, recovering from earlier losses that followed the Bank of Canada's comments on uncertainty around future policy decisions as it kept interest rates unchanged. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe says the S&P/TSX Composite Index closed up 79.67 points at 33,176.07. The gold-focused index jumped 3 per cent, as gold prices moved past $5,300 an ounce early in the day, triggered by a sell-off in the U.S. dollar. The broader materials index, which includes metal miners, gained 1.9 per cent as copper, aluminum and zinc also traded higher. The index reversed course as energy stocks gained 1 per cent with oil prices hovering around a four-month high. Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said the high level of geopolitical and trade uncertainty made it difficult to predict the timing and direction of the next rate change. The central bank's policy rate is 2.25 per cent. Financial stocks, which drove the main index lower earlier in the day, dropped, while the rate-sensitive industrials sector also fell. In the United States, the Federal Reserve also held interest rates steady.