Canadian Market Recovers From Early Setback; Energy, Tech Stocks Move Up

(RTTNews) - After opening with a fairly big negative gap, the Canadian market recovered and moved into positive territory on Thursday, led by gains in energy, technology and utilities sectors. Several stocks from healthcare and realty sectors too moved higher.

The weak start came amid rising concerns about inflation and growth as oil prices soared after U.S. President Donald Trump said U.S. forces will strike Iran extremely hard in the next two to three weeks.

The U.S. President, who did not give a timeline for ending the conflict, offered no plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz but pledged further strikes on energy facilities in the event of Tehran rejecting a deal.

WTI crude oil futures skyrocketed to nearly $114 a barrel this morning, before easing slightly to $111, still up almost 11% from previous close.

The S&P/TSX Composite Index, which fell to 32,564.14 in early trades, losing nearly 400 points in the process, climbed to 33,132.36 subsequently before easing to 32,997.71, up by about 40 points from previous close.

Energy stocks Athabasca Oil Corp, Tamarack Valley Energy, Parex Resources, Headwater Exploration, Strathcona Resources, Whitecap Resources, Vermilion Energy and Kelt Exploration gained 3%-4.5%.

Technology stocks Firan Technology Group, Computer Modelling, Celestica Inc., BlackBerry, Tecsys and Enghouse Systems gained 2%-3.5%.

CGI Inc. shares gained 2.5%. CGI announced a multi-year strategic collaboration agreement with Amazon Web Services to accelerate artificial intelligence adoption, strengthen cloud security and drive digital transformation across the U.S. public sector.

Northland Power, up 2.2%, was the top gainer in the Utilities Capped Index. Brookfield Renewable Partners, AltaGas, Emera Inc., Canadian Utilities, Atco, Fortis and Hydro One gained 1.3%-1.7%.

On the economic front, data from Statistics Canada showed that Canada's trade deficit increased to C$5.7 billion in February from the upwardly revised C$4.2 billion in January and worse than the expected C$2.3 billion shortfall. This marked the widest trade gap since August 2025.

Imports surged 8.4% to a record high of C$72.1 billion in February, while exports rose 6.4% to C$66.3 billion, the highest since March 2025.