TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index closed up Monday along with U.S. markets as investor fears eased around rising conflict in the Middle East.
“The markets had some time to digest the news,” said Andrew Buntain, portfolio manager at Fiduciary Trust Canada.
Israel launched a major attack Friday with strikes in the Iranian capital of Tehran and elsewhere, leading Iran to retaliate with hundreds of drones and missiles. Israel’s attack on military and energy infrastructure in the country led to a spike in the oil price Friday over fears of escalation and disruptions of supply.
The two countries continue to attack each other, but Buntain said investors are still watching to see whether there’s signs of it getting worse.
“Longer term, it remains to be seen how long the conflict lasts and whether or not further oil and gas facilities would be targeted, and what the impact on that would be,” he said.
“So, the market is in a wait-and-see mode as far as that goes.”
The easing fears pushed oil prices, and energy stocks, down Monday, but the Canadian market still managed gains as companies in the industrial, technology and base metal sectors rose.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 64.26 points at 26,568.61.
Along with the energy sector down, gold mining companies also saw a dip as the price of the metal also fell. The sector is still a standout on the year so far, said Buntain.
“Metals and mining shares traded a little bit lower as gold prices slipped, but the material sector is still the best-performing sector on the TSX year to date,” he said.
“A lot of that has to do with instability around the world, and I think you can look at gold shares as being potential for profits in the second half if we get continued uncertainty around trade, uncertainty around geopolitics.”
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 317.30 points at 42,515.09. The S&P 500 index was up 56.14 points at 6,033.11, while the Nasdaq composite was up 294.39 points at 19,701.21.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.76 cents US compared with 73.54 cents US on Friday.
The August crude oil contract was down US$1.04 at US$70.25 per barrel and the July natural gas contract was up 17 cents US at US$3.75 per mmBTU.
The August gold contract was down US$35.50 at US$3,417.30 an ounce and the July copper contract was up three cents US at US$4.84 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 16, 2025.
Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)
