Canadian stocks edged lower on Monday amid rising oil supply concerns after the U.S. cancelled peace talks with Iran, leaving the Strait of Hormuz to remain shut.
After opening below the previous week's close, today the benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index gained a little but lost momentum to trade lower throughout the rest of the session before settling at 33,818.19, down by 85.92 points (or 0.25%).
Three of the 11 sectors posted gains today, with the energy sector leading the pack.
In an effort to end the war between the U.S. and Iran that commenced on February 28, delegates from both nations sat together on April 11-12 in Pakistan. However, the talks ended without any breakthrough.
After requests from Pakistan, U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to a second round of peace talks.
Iran demanded the withdrawal of the naval blockade enforced on Iranian ports by the U.S. navy as a precondition for talks.
Last Friday, Trump announced that U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner would lead a team to Pakistan.
With Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi confirming his visit to Pakistan on Friday, expectations of a resolution to the conflict ran high, boosting investor sentiments.
On Saturday, Trump suddenly announced that he had stopped his envoys from traveling to Pakistan for negotiations.
Through Truth Social, Trump stated that it was a waste of time to travel nearly 18 hours to Pakistan and added that Iran could well explain their plans through phone calls. Trump emphasized that the U.S. has "all the cards" while Iran has none.
With the talks "failing" even before they started, after leaving on Saturday, Araghchi returned to Pakistan again on Sunday to explain Iran's stance to Pakistani negotiators.
Reportedly, Iran is ready to open up the Strait of Hormuz again in exchange for a withdrawal of the U.S. naval blockade on Iranian ports. Iran would want its "nuclear programs" to be discussed at a later stage. Officially, the U.S. is yet to respond to Iran's offer.
Though the ceasefire announced by Trump holds, the lack of progress in peace talks has renewed concerns of crude oil supply disruptions. As the Strait of Hormuz remains blocked and hundreds of vessels loaded with oil are stranded at sea.
In a weekly note, Goldman Sachs warned about the possibility of "demand destruction" for crude oil.
Elsewhere in the Middle East, despite an agreed extended ceasefire with Lebanon, Israel conducted targeted strikes on Hezbollah groups in Lebanon, reigniting concerns of war. As a result, oil prices soared while gold prices felt the heat.
In Canada, energy stocks offered support for the index, while the materials sector dragged it down.
On the economic front, it was an uneventful day for Canada with no significant data releases.
Last week's inflation data showed a jump in headline inflation to 2.40% in March, up from 1.80% in February.
The Bank of Canada is expected to hold its benchmark rate steady at 2.25% in its upcoming meeting on Wednesday.
Investors in Canada are awaiting some development with regard to the review of the Canada-United States-Mexico trade agreement.
Last Friday, Prime Minister Mark Carney spoke with the President of Mexico Claudia Sheinbaum and agreed to work in close coordination to maintain the trade ties.
Though the U.S. has scheduled a timeline for official talks with Mexico, Canada has not been offered a start date, raising anxiety among investors.
Major sectors that gained in today's trading were Energy (2.32%), IT (0.81%), and Healthcare (0.25%).
Among the individual stocks, Arc Resources Ltd (21.15%), Kelt Exploration Ltd (13.48%), Lithium Americas Corp (12.60%), Advantage Energy Ltd (6.95%), Birchcliff Energy Ltd (6.13%), Blackberry Limited (4.48%), and Curaleaf Holdings Inc (3.76%) were the prominent gainers.
Major sectors that lost in today's trading were Communication Services (0.68%), Consumer Staples (1.03%), Materials (1.11%), and Consumer Discretionary (1.69%).
Among the individual stocks, Brp Inc (3.62%), Aritzia Inc (3.07%), B2Gold Corp (8.55%), Allied Gold Corporation (4.52%), and Maple Leaf Foods (2.79%) were the notable losers.
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April 24, 2026 15:15 ET Economics news flow was relatively light this week even as the conflict in the Middle East continued, raising concerns for policymakers. In the U.S., spending data, initial jobless claims and pending home sales were the highlights. Business confidence in the biggest euro area economy was in focus in Europe. Inflation data from Japan gained attention in Asia.