Updates after markets open

By Ragini Mathur

Feb 24 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index fell on Monday, hurt by information technology and healthcare shares, as investors remained risk-averse ahead of potential U.S. tariffs.

At 10:30 a.m. ET (1503 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index .GSPTSE was down 0.3% at 25,068.54, its lowest level since February 3.

Among sectors, information technology .SPTTTK and healthcare .GSPTTHC led the declines, down over 2% each. The heavily-weighted energy .SPTTEN sector lost 0.43% as oil prices edged lower in the day. O/R

Canada and Mexico are set to intensify discussions to avoid 25% tariffs on their exports to the U.S. ahead of a March 4 deadline.

The two north American countries have taken steps to beef up border security, which bought them about a month's reprieve from the tariffs that could wreak havoc on a highly integrated economy of the region.

"It's very hard to say what the real objective of the new U.S. administration is, whether it is really just something that can be addressed from increasing border security," said Angelo Kourkafas, investment strategist at Edward Jones Investments.

Top domestic lenders are set to report later this week, starting with Bank of Montreal BMO.TO and Bank of Nova Scotia BNS.TO, also known as Scotiabank, on Tuesday.

Trump's proposed 25% tariff on all non-energy Canadian imports may lead banks to set aside additional funds, despite anticipated gains from capital markets and wealth management in the first quarter.

Among individual stocks, Calibre Mining CXB.TO was among the worst performers on TSX, down 6.7% after mid-tier gold producer Equinox Gold EQX.TO on Sunday said it would buy all outstanding shares of the mining company.

(Reporting by Ragini Mathur in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed)

((Ragini.Mathur@thomsonreuters.com;))