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S&P/TSX composite index was down 0.42% at close

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Fall was contained by rise in energy, gold stocks

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Crude oil price up by 7% to $74.23 per barrel

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Spot gold rose 1.6% at $3,428.10 an ounce

(Recasts with closing price, quote)

By Ragini Mathur and Promit Mukherjee

June 13 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index retreated

from recent highs on Friday, dragged down by investor fears of a

wider conflict after an Israeli attack and Iranian retaliation

rattled global markets.

Investors rushed to safe-haven gold, pushing its price

higher, while panic around the prospect of an all-out war

triggered a spike in crude oil futures.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 0.42% at

26,504.35 points, falling from its all-time peak seen a day ago.

Iran launched hundreds of ballistic missiles toward Israel,

Iranian media reported. This was in response to a strike by

Israel on Iran's nuclear sites, spurring widespread tensions in

a politically fragile region.

Israel has warned that the strikes were the start of a

prolonged operation to prevent Tehran from building nuclear

weapons. Iran, which produces close to 4 million barrels of

crude oil per day, has promised a harsh response.

Investors on the TSX withdrew from financial, technology and

industrial stocks while some poured money into energy and gold

companies.

"You see a sell-off after a brief pickup (on TSX) because of

the uncertainty of what could happen over the weekend after

Iran's response," Elvis Picardo, senior portfolio manager at

Luft Financial, iA Private Wealth, said.

The conflict could have reverberations across the globe,

Picardo said, adding, with the Middle East, the fear is always

of disruption to the flow of oil that has inflationary

consequences across sectors and economies.

The fall in the composite index on the Toronto Stock

Exchange was limited by gains in energy and gold mining shares

as prices of crude oil and gold climbed.

Brent crude futures rose almost 7% to $74.23 a

barrel. Spot gold rose 1.55% to $3,437.18 an ounce.

The capped energy index rose 2.77% and helped

cushion the impact of the fall of the composite index. Energy

shares account for almost 17% of the total weight on the main

index.

Materials index, or the tracker of mining

companies, rose 1.41% especially because of a rise in gold

mining stocks as investors prefer to take refuge in the precious

metal during times of uncertainty.

Mining companies claim a weight of 12.5% in the benchmark

index.

The benchmark index achieved a second consecutive record

high on Thursday and appears poised to secure its third straight

weekly gain, provided losses remain contained.