Canadian Stocks Soar After U.S., Iran Suspend Attacks For Two Weeks

(RTTNews) - Canadian stocks surged on Wednesday as investor sentiments received a boost after the U.S. and Iran agreed to halt their mutual attacks for a two-week period and explore a framework for negotiations to end hostilities.

After opening above yesterday's close, today the benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index traded firmly positive through the session before settling at 33,620.57, up by 383.05 points (or 1.15%).

Ten of the 11 sectors posted gains today, with the consumer discretionary sector leading the pack.

The U.S.-Israeli versus Iran conflict that started on February 28 cooled off today.

Angered by Iran's repeated refusals to open up the Strait of Hormuz despite several diplomatic efforts, U.S. President Donald Trump recently served an ultimatum to Iran.

First, Trump warned that U.S. forces would destroy every energy and power infrastructure in Iran if it failed to open up the strait by April 7, Monday. Then, he extended the deadline until 08:00 p.m. ET Tuesday.

Later, he doubled down on his threat, stating that an entire civilization in Iran may be wiped out if Iran failed to reopen the narrow seaway.

As the world watched the developments with bated breath, hours before the deadline, Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced via X that peace talks to end the conflict were progressing steadily and hence, requested both the U.S. and Iran to observe a ceasefire for two weeks.

Sharif also stated that high-level delegations from the U.S. and Iran will be arriving at Islamabad on April 10 to formulate a sequence of measures to end the crisis.

Soon, Trump and the Iranian government separately confirmed the two-week ceasefire. The news calmed investors globally.

Trump also stated that the U.S. had received a 10-point framework from Iran and described that the proposal provides a "workable basis" to carry on the negotiations.

Over the past few days, investors avoided big moves as the trajectory of how the gulf crisis would evolve was unpredictable.

Today's ceasefire announcement brought back the enthusiasm in stock markets.

Gold soared while oil prices went into a deep tailspin.

With concerns of inflation slowly melting down, consumer discretionary sector and materials sector with gold-linked stocks soared with new vigor, supporting the index positively.

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney and nine European leaders jointly welcomed the two-week ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran. They thanked Pakistan and its partners for facilitating the ceasefire deal and urged all concerned parties to arrive at a long-lasting solution to the war.

Canadian investors are also focusing on the outcome of negotiations going on ahead of the renewal of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement on trilateral trade relations.

Through this deal, Canadian exporters bypassed tariffs imposed by Trump last year.

Today, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer stated that he does not expect all the issues related to the new draft would be resolved by July 1, which is the deadline for the U.S. to notify Canada and Mexico on its plans.

Canada has also been hit by Trump's tariffs on steel, aluminum, autos, and lumber industries, which do not fall under CUSMA.

On the economic front, it was an uneventful day for Canada with no data release.

Major sectors that gained in today's trading were Consumer Discretionary (3.28%), IT (2.42%), Materials (2.28%), and Healthcare (2.23%).

Among the individual stocks, Aritzia Inc (9.52%), Gildan Activewear Inc (6.04%), Magna International Inc (5.50%), Hudbay Minerals Inc (8.23%), Lundin Mining Corp (7.90%), and 5N Plus Inc (7.30%) were the prominent gainers.

Energy (4.51%) sector alone lost in today's trading.

Among the individual stocks, Baytex Energy Corp (7.56%), International Petroleum Corporation (7.55%), Vermillion Energy Inc (7.44%), and Tamarack Valley Energy Ltd (7.10%) were the notable losers.