Toronto stocks finished slightly lower Tuesday as an afternoon rally in the energy sector offset declines in the tech group.

The S&P/TSX composite index fell 18.13 points, or 0.15%, to 11,688.34.

U.S. crude oil futures gained 45¢ to US$61.45 a barrel.

Petro-Canada climbed 48¢, or 0.93%, to $52.06.

Overall, six of the 10 TSX main groups lost ground as the Canadian dollar rose to new 14-year highs against the U.S. greenback, boosted by solid fourth-quarter growth data in Canada and weaker-than-expected regional U.S. economic data.

The technology sector shed 1.04%, following a 1.1% drop on Nasdaq, triggered by worries over Google’s growth outlook.

ATI technology sank 95¢, or 5%, to $18.09.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index slipped 11.52 points, or 0.45%, to 2,531.81.

U.S. stocks fell hard on Tuesday after data showed signs of weakness in the U.S. economy, and Google warned that growth was slowing.

Google shares suffered their second-worst one-day loss ever, dropping 7.1% to US$362.62. Earlier, it fell as low as US$338.51.

The market was already weak before Google started falling. Today’s economic data releases, including readings on existing home sales, consumer confidence and Midwest business conditions, came in weaker than the market had been expecting.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 104.14 points, or 0.94%, at 10,993.41. The S&P 500 was down 13.46 points, or 1.04%, at 1,280.66. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index was down 25.79 points, or 1.12%, at 2,281.39.

Today’s sell-off pushed the Dow below 11,000. Still, for the month of February, the blue-chip Dow average ended up 1.2%, while the S&P 500 was little changed, up 0.05%. The Nasdaq fell 1.1% this month.