March 10 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index edged higher on Tuesday as fears lessened of a prolonged Middle East war, with gains for financial and metal mining shares offsetting declines for energy after oil prices pulled back.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index ended up 81.33 points, or 0.3%, at 33,270.65. On Monday, the index touched its lowest intraday level since February 6 before ending higher.
The United States and Israel pounded Iran on Tuesday with what the Pentagon and Iranians on the ground called the most intense airstrikes of the war, despite global markets betting U.S. President Donald Trump will seek to end the conflict soon.
"Prices have recovered somewhat after the initial fears of a prolonged conflict," said Michael Sprung, president at Sprung Investment Management.
"Going forward we're going to see high volatility as long as this war continues. Perhaps the best thing investors can do is just be confident in the companies they own in terms of their financial integrity and their management integrity."
The materials index, which includes precious metal miners, added 1.2%. The price of gold was up 1.2% as the safe-haven U.S. dollar gave back some recent gains.
Heavily weighted financials were up 0.8% despite a near 57% plunge in the shares of goeasy Ltd. The lender forecast a fourth-quarter incremental charge-off of C$178 million ($131.25 million) and suspended its quarterly dividend as well as share repurchases.
Five of the 10 major sectors ended lower, including energy which lost 0.5%. The price of oil settled down 11.9% at $83.45 a barrel on reduced expectations of prolonged oil supply disruptions.
Technology was also a drag, falling 1.5%, with shares of e-commerce company Shopify Inc down 3.1%
Thomson Reuters shares ended 7% lower, contributing to the industrials sector losing 1.1%.
(Reporting by Fergal Smith in Toronto and Rashika Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Jonathan Ananda and Chris Reese)
By Fergal Smith
