Canada Stocks: TSX dips as Mideast peace hopes rally stalls

Choice Properties Real Estate Investment Trust

16/04/2026 16:29

Updates prices and details throughout, adds analyst comment in paragraph 7

TSX down 0.1%

Oil prices rise over 1%

Real estate shares gain after First Capital acquisition

Cineplex shares jump on report of potential sale

By Tharuniyaa  Lakshmi

April 16 (Reuters) - Canada’s main stock index inched down on Thursday, as uncertainty around the progress made toward a Middle East peace deal weighed on investor sentiment, even as energy shares gained on higher oil prices.

At 10:47 a.m. ET, the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX Composite Index .GSPTSE was down 0.1% at 34,202.07 points, still hovering near its highest level since its March 2 peak.

While U.S. and Iranian officials are considering returning to Pakistan for further talks as early as this weekend, rising uncertainty about when shipping disruptions would ease in the vital Strait of Hormuz saw oil prices jump 1.7%.

TSX's energy subindex .SPTTEN added 1.1%, tracking crude prices.

Shares of real estate investment trust First Capital FCR_u.TO jumped 8.2% to a record high after Choice Properties and KingSett Capital agreed to buy the REIT in a $6.85 billion deal, helping the real estate sub‑index .GSPTTRE add 1.5%.

The technology sub-index .SPTTTK also rose 0.9%, buoyed by renewed interest in AI‑focused stocks after sharp rallies in companies pivoting toward artificial intelligence.

“We’re right back to AI being what the market cares about. We’d taken our eye off it for a bit because a lot else was going on, but now AI is back,” said Matthew Kempton, Portfolio Manager at Verecan Capital Management Inc.

However, seven out of 10 sectors on the TSX were trading in red, including heavyweight financials.

Among individual movers, Cineplex Inc CGX.TO rose 6.3% after Bloomberg News reported the movie theater chain is shopping itself to potential buyers in a bid to combine with a rival.

(Reporting by Tharuniyaa Lakshmi in Bengaluru; Editing by Jonathan Ananda)

((tharuniyaa@thomsonreuters.com))