TSX ends down 0.5% at 34,339.99,
Posts 7.6% monthly gain
Tech falls 2.5%, financials end 1.9% lower
Energy adds 1.2% as oil settles up 2.8%
Updates at market close
By Fergal Smith
Feb 27 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index gave back some of its monthly gain on Friday as declines for financial and technology shares offset gains for resource stocks, while domestic data showed the economy contracting in the fourth quarter.
The S&P/TSX composite index .GSPTSE ended down 161.97 points, or 0.5%, at 34,339.99, after posting a record closing high in the three previous days.
Wall Street also lost ground as worries about credit losses and artificial intelligence disruption weighed.
"There is a lot of debate about AI disruption, spending. Some of that is finding its way into financials today as there are some worries that private credit issues may be starting to emerge," said Angelo Kourkafas, senior global investment strategist at Edward Jones.
"On the flip side you have materials and energy that are doing the heavy lifting for the TSX as investors rotate into real asset businesses that are less likely to be disrupted by AI."
For the month, the TSX added 7.6%, marking its biggest monthly gain since November 2020, as metal mining shares benefited from higher gold prices and stronger-than-expected bank earnings boosted financials.
The Toronto market has advanced for 10 straight months, the longest such winning streak since 2017.
Canada's gross domestic product fell at an annualized pace of 0.6% in the October-December quarter as manufacturers dipped heavily into inventories to meet demand, closing out the slowest year of growth for the country since 2020.
The technology sector .SPTTTK lost 2.5% on Friday, with shares of e-commerce company Shopify Inc SHOP.TO ending 4.3% lower.
Financials .SPTTFS fell 1.9%, while consumer discretionary .GSPTTCD was down 1% as shares of apparel company Aritzia ATZ.TO dropped 7.8%.
Three of 10 major sectors notched gains, including energy .SPTTEN. It added 1.2% as the price of oil CLc1 settled 2.8% higher at $67.02 a barrel.
Traders braced for oil supply disruptions as nuclear talks between the United States and Iran had yet to reach an agreement.
The materials group, which includes metal mining shares, was up 1% as the price of gold XAU= advanced 1.4%, benefiting from safe-haven demand.
(Reporting by Fergal Smith and Utkarsh Tushar Hathi; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Nick Zieminski)
((fergal.smith@thomsonreuters.com; +1 647 480 7446))