Canadian Stocks Soar As U.S. Steps Up Efforts To End Gulf Crisis

(RTTNews) - Extending the gains from the two previous sessions, Canadian stocks surged on Wednesday after reports of the U.S. sending a 15-point peace proposal to Iran infused optimism that the ongoing Middle East war could end soon.
After opening higher than yesterday's close, today the benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index traded firmly positive throughout the session before settling at 32,382.60, up by 441.01 points (or 1.38%).
Ten of the 11 sectors posted gains today, with the materials sector leading the pack.
As the Middle East war entered day number twenty-six today, the Associated Press reported that the U.S. has delivered a 15-point-peace proposal to Iran through Pakistan.
Apparently, central to the proposals is the U.S. demand for Iran to withdraw any intent to develop its nuclear program in exchange for U.S. lifting of sanctions on Iran's oil exports.
A senior Iranian official stated that if talks were to be scheduled, it could be held in Pakistan or Turkey.
Yesterday, in the Oval Office, U.S. President Donald Trump stated that the U.S. received a "very significant prize" from Iran which he termed was oil-and-gas related and was "worth a tremendous amount of money."
Adding that it was related to oil and energy, Trump affirmed that the U.S. was talking to "the right people."
The attention of investors has been focused on the Strait of Hormuz since the narrow seaway has remained closed since the start of the war which began on February 28.
Facing difficulty to transport oil, some Arab nations scaled down the output while a few halted the production, leading to a huge oil demand worldwide.
Including Canada, oil price rise resulted in inflation with cascading effects on economy.
Amid this, Trump's message renewed investors' confidence as it dimmed concerns of prolonged disruption to energy supplies.
As a result, stock markets worldwide including the U.S. stocks and TSX moved higher, enthused by signs of de-escalation.
Iran has also agreed to let vessels linked to nations "non-hostile" to Iran to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
However, geopolitical tensions remained active after Israel announced that it conducted a "large wave" of airstrikes across several areas in Iran.
Besides this, multiple news agencies have reported that the Pentagon is deploying thousands of Marines to the Middle East.
Reacting to this, Iran threatened to shut the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and block the Red Sea if there is any ground attack on Iran.
Even as the Middle East tensions continued to simmer, oil prices tumbled as optimism on an end to the war gathered steam which benefitted the Canadian index.
On March 18, Bank of Canada held on the interest rates at the current level at 2.25%, citing inflationary concerns.
The central bank acknowledged that skyrocketing oil prices has made it difficult to predict the economy's trajectory.
Major sectors that gained in today's trading were Materials (3.28%), Industrials (1.27%), Utilities (1.18%), and Consumer Discretionary (1.16%).
Among the individual stocks, Boralex Inc (10.97%), Ssr Mining Inc (7.08%), G Mining Ventures Corp (7.03%), Ngex Minerals Ltd (6.68%), Silvercorp Metals Inc (6.49%), and Brookfield Business Partners LP (6.79%) were the prominent gainers.
Communication Services (0.16%) was the only major sector that lost in today's trading.
Among the individual stocks, Telus Corporation (1.27%) BCE Inc (0.90%), Metro Inc (0.12%), and The North West Company Inc (0.13%) were the notable losers.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.