TORONTO (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks extended a record for a fourth day, led by financial shares including Royal Bank of Canada, on optimism banks' earnings will weather an economic slowdown in the US, Canada's biggest trading partner."We continue to be bullish on the financials," said Luc Girard, who helps oversee $14.1 billion as director of the portfolio advisory group at Desjardins Securities in Montreal. "It's a defensive play on the slowdown."

Girard said he expects financial companies including Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and Bank of Nova Scotia to announce that they are increasing their dividends this week.

The Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index added 93.92, or 0.7 percent, to 12,848.67. The last time the S&P/TSX rose for four straight sessions was in the period ended September 28.

A gauge of financial shares climbed 0.9 percent and was the biggest contributor to the S&P/TSX's advance among 10 industry groups.

Royal Bank increased 72 cents to C$54.32. Canada's biggest lender by assets said last week that profit rose for the eighth straight quarter to a record, as equity trading revenue more than doubled and investment banking fees surged.

CIBC gained 86 cents to C$90.95. The country's fifth- largest lender by assets will report fourth-quarter earnings on December 7.

Larger rival Bank of Nova Scotia, scheduled to announce its results on December 8, added 40 cents to C$51.37.

Canadian banks should post "about ten percent earnings growth across the group," UBS AG analyst Jason Bilodeau said in an interview last week.

Contracts to buy previously owned homes in the U.S. fell more than expected in October, according to a report today.

An index of signed purchase agreements fell 1.7 percent to 107.2 from 109.1 in September, the National Association of Realtors said. Economists expected the index to fall 0.5 percent in October, the median of estimates in a Bloomberg News survey.

The housing slowdown threatens to weigh on the U.S. economy by removing a source of consumer wealth.