CANADA STOCKS-TSX dips, weighed by financial and healthcare shares
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Nov 22 (Reuters) - Shares in Canada's main stock index edged lower on Thursday, led by a drop in the financial and healthcare sectors, while shares of technology companies rose on Wall Street's recovery ahead of the U.S. Thanksgiving Holiday.
* The financials sector slipped 0.2 percent after Bank of Canada said vulnerabilities in the housing market are still high despite rising interest rates and tighter mortgage rules.
* The healthcare sector (.GSPTTHC ) lost the most on TSX, down 1.3 percent as reports indicated Canada's Alberta region may temporarily stop issuing licenses to sell cannabis and ration supply amid a countrywide marijuana shortage.
* The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index closed down 3.44 points, or 0.02 percent, at 15,091.58. Of the index's 10 main groups, five were in negative territory.
* Bucking the trend, the energy sector climbed 0.5 percent. Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said the province was willing to buy trains itself to help clear a backlog of crude oil if Ottawa decides not to back Alberta's proposal to split the costs of new rail cars.
* The price of U.S. crude oil was down 1.4 percent at $53.85 a barrel after U.S. inventories swelled to their highest level since December.
* The technology group advanced 0.5 percent, while the materials sector, which includes precious and base metals miners, rose 0.5 percent on elevated gold prices.
* Among the most active Canadian stocks by volume were Bombardier B, up 10.6 percent to C$2.50; Aurora Cannabis, down 3.0 percent to C$8.00, and Baytex Energy Co, up 2.4 percent to C$2.53.
* Volume on the TSX index was much lighter than usual at 83.39 million shares. (Reporting by Agamoni Ghosh Editing by Frances Kerry and Rosalba O'Brien)