Most Canadian stocks fell a fourth day as a drop in gold and silver prices spurred a retreat in raw-materials producers, overshadowing a rally in energy shares. Kinross Gold Corp. led mining stocks to the steepest decline among 10 industries as gold fell for the first time this week and the company reported earnings that trailed analysts’ estimates. Bank of Montreal and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce declined following a retreat in U.S. financial stocks to a 14-year low on concern about credit-card defaults. Suncor Energy Inc. gained 7.9 percent as oil prices surged 14 percent on an unexpected decline in U.S. crude stockpiles. The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index added 9.4 points, or 0.1 percent, to 8,185.35 in Toronto as 108 stocks fell and 98 rose. The benchmark earlier rose as much as 1.5 percent before erasing most its advance in the last hour of trading as U.S. stocks extended their retreat. “Gold’s rolling over,” said Peter Hodson, who helps manage about $3.8 billion at Sprott Asset Management Inc. in Toronto. “Our index is holding up a bit better because of energy.” Mining Stocks Decline A measure of mining shares in the S&P/TSX declined 2.9 percent today, paring its gain in 2009 to 6.8 percent. Gold for April delivery fell 0.2 percent to $976.50 an ounce in New York as demand eased after the metal climbed to a seven-month high on investor demand for a haven from the global recession. Gold is still up 10 percent this year. Silver also retreated. Kinross declined 6.4 percent to C$22.87, the steepest drop in six weeks. Canada’s third-largest gold producer reported fourth-quarter profit of 9 cents a share, missing the average analyst estimate by 14 percent. Barrick Gold Corp., the world’s biggest gold producer, dropped 5.2 percent to C$45.90. Silver Wheaton Corp. slid 8.7 percent to C$8.49. The reseller of silver reported a fourth- quarter loss of $54.2 million after writing down the value of certain investments. Bank of Montreal, Canada’s fifth-largest lender, fell 2.3 percent to C$26. Manulife Financial Corp., the country’s biggest insurer, decreased 3.9 percent to C$14.50, the lowest since October 2002. Financial Shares Slide U.S. financial shares fell as analysts from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Fitch Ratings said credit-card defaults may rise to records this year, wiping out more than half of annual profit for some banks. Insurers were led lower by Prudential Financial Inc., which lost its ability to borrow under a government program because of a credit-rating downgrade. Suncor added C$1.75 to C$23.95, the steepest increase since Jan. 21. The owner of the Voyageur project in Alberta has the clearest growth prospects among Canadian oil-sands producers, according to Barclays, which raised the stock to “overweight” from “equal weight.” Assuming oil has a long-term average price of $80 a barrel, Suncor is worth C$42 a share, analyst Paul Cheng wrote in a report to clients. The stock is like a “call option on commodity prices at current levels,” Cheng, based in New York, wrote. Canadian Oil Sands Trust, the largest oil-sands producer, advanced 5.8 percent to C$20.95. Supplies Fall Crude oil rose 14 percent, the biggest gain in seven weeks, to $39.48 after the Energy Department said that supplies fell last week for the first time this year. Oil has still dropped 73 percent from its peak in July after the credit crunch and recessions in the U.S., Europe and Japan curbed demand. Canada is the biggest exporter of oil to the U.S., the largest energy consumer. U.S. stocks dropped, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a six-year low, as Hewlett-Packard Co. cut its profit forecast and concern about rising credit-card defaults dragged financial shares to the lowest level since 1995.

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