April 11 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index edged lower on Thursday, dragged down by losses in healthcare and energy shares, as hopes for a June rate cut waned.
At 9:57 a.m. ET (13:57 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index (.GSPTSE), opens new tab was down 72.51 points, or 0.33%, at 22,126.62.
Healthcare stocks (.GSPTTHC), opens new tab declined 0.7% on the index, pulled down by a 4.3% decline in pot firm Tilray Brands .
Heavy-weight financials (.SPTTFS), opens new tab fell 0.4%, while energy shares (.SPTTEN), opens new tab slipped 0.7%, tracking a downward trend in oil prices.
Seven of the eleven sectors were trading in losses.
"It's a bit of a continuation after the big move yesterday," said Scott Blair, chief investment officer at CWB Wealth.
The TSX logged its worst day since February 13 on Wednesday, as the Bank of Canada left its key rate unchanged and a hot inflation reading from the U.S. prompted investors to scale back expectations for interest rate cuts.
Meanwhile, a government report in the U.S. showed that producer prices rose less than expected in March, which led traders to bet that the Federal Reserve could start its easing cycle as early as July.
"Anything that shows that inflation is not as resilient as yesterday's print, will be helpful for US rate cut prospects, which will be helpful for our (Canadian) prospects," Blair added.
A separate reading also showed the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week.
In Canadian corporate news, shares of Toronto Industries (TIH.TO), opens new tab slid 3.3% after brokerage Raymond James downgraded the heavy equipment producer to "market perform" from "outperform".
Reporting by Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Ravi Prakash Kumar
