Following two days of consecutive gains, Canadian moved a little higher on Wednesday as traders weighed the impact of the U.S.-enforced blockade on Iran's ports against the proposed second round of U.S.-Iran negotiations coming up in a few days.
After opening just a little above yesterday's close, today the benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index gave ground early in the session but regained the momentum to trade positive throughout the rest of the day before settling at 34,155.99, up by 53.63 points (or 0.16%).
Six of the 11 sectors posted gains today, with the IT sector leading the pack.
The possibility of U.S.-Iran peace talks drew the attention of traders for the second day today.
After announcing a two-week ceasefire in the U.S.-Israel versus Iran conflict, U.S. President Donald Trump demanded Iran open up the Strait of Hormuz and allow free movement of oil and energy tankers.
The peace talks between the U.S. and Iranian delegations last Saturday ended in failure following which Trump ordered U.S. naval forces stationed near Iran to block all ships traveling to and from Iranian ports across the Strait of Hormuz as a strategy to cripple Iran's oil exports and compel the nation to concede to U.S. demands.
These moves led to a surge in oil prices, driven by supply-related concerns.
Yesterday, in an interview with the New York Post, Trump confirmed that a U.S. delegation is preparing to meet their Iranian counterparts for the second time in Pakistan in a couple of days.
Two separate interviews from Trump revived market sentiments.
In one interview with Fox Business Network, Trump observed that the war with Iran is now "very close to over."
In another with ABC News, Trump hinted at a "major turning point" coming up this week and an extension of the current two-week ceasefire would not be necessary.
Despite some positivity surfacing as the diplomatic process is set to resume, investors embraced cautious optimism with Trump's demand to Iran to wind up their nuclear ambitions remaining as the point of contention.
As market attention is focused on developments around Iran, analysts feel that oil prices would dictate the direction of markets for a few more days.
Data released by Statistics Canada today revealed that Canada's manufacturing sales rose 3.60% to C$71.20 billion in February, rebounding from a 3.00% decline in January.
Canada's wholesale trade rose by 2.00% month-on-month to C$86.80 billion in February, below the initially reported 2.30% gain, following a revised 1.10% decline in January.
Canadian investors are also awaiting a breakthrough development in the ongoing Canada-U.S. negotiations for renewal of Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement.
A new report by Canadian Federation of Independent Business stated that the Canadian economy is losing businesses faster than it can create new ones.
Terming it as "entrepreneurial drought", the CFIB stressed that it is time for federal and provincial governments to act to reverse this trend.
Major sectors that gained in today's trading were IT (3.57%), Healthcare (3.21%), Financials (0.92%), and Consumer Staples (0.47%).
Among the individual stocks, Shopify Inc (8.12%), Coveo Solutions Inc (6.02%), Descartes Sys (5.77%), Curaleaf Holdings Inc (8.43%), and Energy Fuels Inc (6.83%) were the prominent gainers.
Major sectors that lost in today's trading were Energy (0.51%), Industrials (0.90%), Materials (1.77%), and Consumer Discretionary (2.03%).
Among the individual stocks, Brp Inc (35.37%), Linamar Corp (12.64%), Orla Mining Ltd (9.28%), and Aris Mining Corporation (6.42%) were the notable losers.
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Market Analysis
June 19, 2026 16:46 ET Major central banks continued to dominate the economic news flow this week too, led by the Federal Reserve, as they announced their latest policy decisions. The Federal Reserve policy session was in focus as it was the first to be led by the new chief Kevin Warsh. In Europe, central banks of the U.K. and Switzerland announced their rate decisions. In Asia, the Bank of Japan drew attention for its policy moves, while data out of China threw some light on the state of the economy.