CANADA STOCKS-TSX slips as rate-sensitive real estate, tech stocks weigh

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TSX down 0.3%

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Real estate, technology shares top decliners

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National Bank of Canada beats Q1 profit estimates, shares gain

(Updated at 10:24 a.m. ET/ 1524 GMT)

By Purvi Agarwal

Feb 28 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index fell on Wednesday, dragged by rate-sensitive real-estate and technology stocks, while investors awaited key domestic economic data and inflation figures from the United States later this week.

At 10:24 a.m. ET (15:24 GMT), the Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index was down 55.1 points, or 0.26%, at 21,263.8.

Real estate and information technology were the top sectoral laggards in a broad sell-off, losing 0.6% and 1.1%, respectively.

Data from the U.S. on Wednesday showed the economy grew at a solid clip in the fourth quarter amid strong consumer spending, but it appears to have lost some speed early in the new year.

"The U.S. economy remains strong and implies that the Fed is not going to be in a rush to cut rates", said Angelo Kourkafas, investment strategist at Edward Jones Investments.

"We see the rally pausing with the stocks taking a breather today. The weaker price action may be more about month-end rebalancing, and investors are waiting for the key inflation data in the US tomorrow", Kourkafas added.

A monthly reading of U.S. personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge, is due on Thursday, alongside a gross domestic product (GDP) reading in Canada.

Investors will be watching these datasets to gauge the central banks' monetary policy paths after a recent hot inflation reading in the U.S. and a significant drop in the Canadian CPI earlier in the month influenced expectations of interest rate cuts.

Back on the TSX, National Bank of Canada gained 3%, keeping the financials afloat, following a higher first-quarter profit. Royal Bank of Canada edged up 0.5% after beating profit estimates for the first quarter. (Reporting by Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)