Canadian Market Down In Negative Territory As Middle East Tensions Weigh

(RTTNews) - After a weak start and a subsequent rebound into positive territory, the Canadian market retreated Thursday morning amid doubts about U.S.-Iran truce after Tehran halted the passage of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz after accusing the U.S. of violating three clauses of the 10-Point Proposal.

Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz and threatened to walk away from the agreement as Israel continues to strike Lebanon. U.S. President Donald Trump has also warned of renewed escalation in the event of Iran not making an attempt to reach a broader deal.

"The U.S. must choose ceasefire or continued war via Israel. It cannot have both. The world sees the massacres in Lebanon. The ball is in the U.S. court, and the world is watching whether it will act on its commitments," Iran Foreign Minister Araghchi said in a post on X.

U.S. President Donald Trump said that U.S. military forces will remain deployed in and around Iran until Tehran fully complies with the "real agreement."

The Canadian benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index was down 89.11 points or 0.27% at 33,531.46 a few minutes before noon.

Technology, communications and consumer staples stocks fell. A few stocks from utilities, energy and financials sectors posted notable gains.

Open Text Corporation shed about 5.6%. Shopify lost nearly 5%, Telus Corporation drifted down 4.8% and Ssr Mining slid 4.2%.

Descartes Systems Group, Boyd Services, Methanex, Rogers Communications, CGI Inc., Lighspeed Commerce, Vermilion Energy, Equinox Gold, Thomson Reuters, Richelieu Hardware, Empire Company and West Fraser Timber lost 2%-4%.

BlackBerry soared more than 11% after reporting a revenue of $156 million for the quarter ended February, exceeding the consensus estimate of $144.4 million and marking roughly 10% year-over-year growth. BlackBerry expects first quarter fiscal 2027 revenue in the range of $132 million to $140 million, above the prior analyst estimate of $129.9 million.

Aecon climbed about 4.2% and Gran Tierra Energy moved up 3.7%. Ballard Power Systems, Power Corporation of Canada, Extendicare, Finning International, TransAlta, Canadian National Railway and Enerflex also posted strong gains.