Global stocks slid as fighting between Israel and Iran entered a fifth day, raising investor concerns over the risk of a broader regional conflict in a week packed with key central bank decisions.

Wall Street futures were in negative territory after North America’s main stock indexes closed higher yesterday.

TSX futures followed sentiment lower.

In Canada, investors are getting results from Groupe Dynamite Inc.

“There’s an understandable degree of nervousness [in the markets]. Should I really be holding on to these stocks now at these levels?” Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, said.

“Once the central bank parade is out of the way, then we might get a better sense of where they view things.”

In addition to the Bank of Japan today, other central bank meetings this week include the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of England and the Swiss National Bank.

Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.89 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.46 per cent, Germany’s DAX dropped 1.25 per cent and France’s CAC 40 gave back 1.04 per cent.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.59 per cent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slid 0.34 per cent.

Oil prices were on the rise, with analysts saying that uncertainty would keep prices elevated, even as there were no concrete signs of any production losses stemming from the Iran-Israel conflict.

Brent crude futures climbed 1.1 per cent to US$74.05 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up 1.1 per cent to $72.54. Both contracts rose more than 2 per cent earlier in the trading session but also notched declines before bouncing back in volatile trading.

“The conflict between Iran and Israel is still fresh and brewing, and investor sentiments may still be holding on to the ’war risks’,” Priyanka Sachdeva, senior market analyst at Phillip Nova, said in an e-mail.

“Added volatility and caution ahead of the Fed policy decision are further ensuring higher-paced price reactions in oil,” she added.

In other commodities, spot gold was steady at US$3,383.01 an ounce. U.S. gold futures fell 0.5 per cent to US$3,401.30.

The Canadian dollar strengthened against its U.S. counterpart.

The day range on the loonie was 73.61 US cents to 73.74 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was up about 2.5 per cent against the greenback over the past month. 

The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, gained 0.16 per cent to 98.15. 

The euro was flat at US$1.1562. The British pound dropped 0.13 per cent to US$1.3559.

In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last down at 4.424 per cent.

The Bank of Japan kept interest rates steady today and decided to slow the pace of its bond tapering, signaling it remains cautious in removing remnants of its massive, decade-long stimulus.

(8:30 a.m. ET) Canada’s international securities transactions for April.

(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. retail sales for May.

(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. trade price indexes for May.

(9:15 a.m. ET) U.S. industrial production and capacity utilization for May.

(10 a.m. ET) U.S. NAHB Housing Index for June.

(10 a.m. ET) U.S. business inventories for April

(1:30 p.m. ET) Bank of Canada’s Summary of Deliberations from June 4 meeting is released.

Also: U.S. Fed meeting begins

With Reuters and The Canadian Press