MONTREAL (Reuters) - As Canada's stock market suffers a bad case of the shakes, investors may look to oil, gold and select financial issues to calm their jangled nerves.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's main index fell 961 points, or seven percent, over the past four sessions to close at 12,737.12 on Friday, erasing its 2007 gains.

Investors, reeling from what Paradigm Capital describes as the market's worst start to the year in some two decades, will have to scramble for what they hope will be safe havens during the turmoil.

There are divergent opinions on where to seek refuge from a recession, but analyst picks typically include non-cyclicals such as food retailers, top life insurers and steady dividend payers.

Not surprisingly this time around, larger oil and gas companies and gold producers are among analysts' favourites for the year as energy and gold prices looks set to rise further.

"The pattern of the last six recessions shows that oil typically peaked closer to the beginning, while gold usually peaked later," wrote UBS strategist George Vasic in a research report. "Those looking for recession hedges are better in gold than oil."

UBS has a 12-month target of 15,000 for the TSX, which it says assumes a return to the upper portion of fair value range as credit market and recession worries recede later in the year.

As for gold stocks, Paradigm likes Iamgold Corp for its improving profit prospects and low trading to net asset value. Other top picks include more speculative candidates Mansfield Minerals Inc and Pelangio Mines Inc.