Equities in Toronto opened slightly up on Tuesday, supported by a rally in gold even as falling oil prices pressured energy shares, with investors assessing U.S. President Donald Trump's signals that the Middle East conflict could wind down soon.
The TSX grabbed 67.36 points to open Tuesday at 33,256.68.
Traders will be watching U.S. inflation data and Canada's jobs report due later this week for signals on the monetary policy outlook.
The timing comes as the Bank of Canada faces mounting geopolitical and supply side risks ahead of its March 18 policy decision.
Scotiabank downgraded Air Canada to "sector perform" from "sector outperform" and cut its target price to $21 from $27. Shares in “The Maple Leaf Airline” gave up 49 cents, or 2.8%, to $17.29.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange marched ahead 13.08 points, or 1.2%, to 1,076.51.
All but three of the 12 TSX subgroups were lower, weighed most by information technology, down 1.2%, energy, 1.1% less energetic, and real-estate, weaker 0.6%.
The three gainers were materials, advancing 2%, gold, up 1.9%, and financials, nicking higher 0.1%.
ON WALLSTREET
The S&P 500 fell on Tuesday, while oil prices pared losses as traders kept a close eye on the latest developments out of Iran.
The Dow Jones Industrials erased Monday’s gains, losing 242.76 points to 47,498.04.
The much-broader index dipped 35.2 points to 6,760.79.
The NASDAQ weakened 77.98 points to 22,618.94.
President Donald Trump on Monday evening said, “We’re achieving major strides toward completing our military objective,” reinforcing earlier comments that the military campaign could soon end. Speaking at a press conference at his golf club near Miami, Trump also said, “We are also focused on keeping energy and oil flowing to the world.”
On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said, “Today will be our most intense day of strikes inside Iran.” He also said that Iran is “badly losing.”
Meanwhile, the speaker of Iran’s parliament, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, wrote in a post on X that the Middle Eastern country is not looking for a ceasefire, according to a translation.
Energy ministers from the Group of Seven nations — specifically Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the U.S. — were planning to meet virtually on Tuesday morning to discuss a potential release of strategic oil reserves.
Prices for the 10-year Treasury gave up a bit of ground, nudging yields up to 4.12% from Monday’s 4.11%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.
Oil prices eased $6.65 to $88.12 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices recovered, and then some, popping $113.50 to $5,217.20 U.S. an ounce.
