TORONTO (Bloomberg) Canadian stocks rose the first time in four days, led by energy producers, as prices of crude oil and natural gas increased, allaying concerns that profits may drop. EnCana Corp. paced gains on better-than-expected earnings.

The Standard & Poor's/TSX Composite Index's advance was limited as falling copper and gold prices dragged down shares of such commodity producers as Teck Cominco Ltd.

The S&P/TSX added 37.16, or 0.3 percent, to 14,105.32 in Toronto. The benchmark had declined 3.8 percent in the three previous days from a record on July 19 and posted its biggest drop in more than three years on Tuesday, as oil and gas prices plunged.

"Earnings by-and-large are holding up," said George Vasic, the Canadian market strategist of UBS Securities Canada Inc. "The abrupt decline yesterday was not a harbinger of a much more substantial correction."

Crude oil for September delivery rose $2.32, or 3.2 percent, to $75.88 a barrel in New York, the most in more than nine weeks, after the US government reported a third straight weekly decline in oil inventories and increased refinery operations. Natural-gas futures for August delivery climbed 1.1 percent to $5.925 per million British thermal units.

Shares of EnCana gained C$1.94, or 3.1 percent, to C$64.66. They'd dropped for the three previous days along with oil and gas prices, falling 7.1 percent.

Canada's biggest natural-gas producer today said second- quarter profit fell 33 percent to $1.45 billion, or $1.89 a share, from $2.16 billion, or $2.55, in the absence of one-time gains recorded a year earlier. Sales rose 43 percent to $5.61 billion, the company said in a statement today.

Petro-Canada, the country's third-biggest oil and gas producer, advanced C$1.97, or 3.5 percent, to C$59. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., the second-largest natural-gas company, added C$1.74 to C$73.52.

Cameco Corp., the world's biggest uranium producer, gained C$1.49 to C$44.34 today. It lost 14 percent in the three previous days after it shut down a refining plant and uranium spot prices suffered their biggest single-week drop last week.