The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that Canada's main stock index edged higher Tuesday as fears lessened of a prolonged Middle East war, with gains for financial and metal mining shares offsetting declines for energy as oil prices pulled back. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe says the S&P/TSX Composite Index ended up 81.33 points at 33,270.65, after dipping sharply intraday Monday. "Prices have recovered somewhat after the initial fears of a prolonged conflict," said Michael Sprung at Sprung Investment Management. "Going forward we're going to see high volatility as long as this war continues." Materials, which includes precious-metal miners, added 1.2 per cent. The price of gold was up 1.2 per cent as the U.S. dollar gave back some recent gains. Heavily weighted financials were up 0.8 per cent despite a near 57-per-cent plunge in the shares of goeasy Ltd. The lender forecast a fourth-quarter incremental charge of $178-million and suspended its quarterly dividend as well as share repurchases. Meanwhile, U.S. stocks lost steam with the S&P 500 giving up early gains to skid into negative territory as investors weighed the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran against continuing worries of economic stagflation.