Australia stocks closed on Wednesday, as gains in the IT, Consumer Discretionary and Consumer Staples sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.10%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Corporate Travel Managment Ltd (ASX:CTD), which rose 5.26% or 1.13 points to trade at 22.62 at the close. Meanwhile, Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) added 4.78% or 0.32 points to end at 7.02 and Wisetech Global Ltd (ASX:WTC) was up 4.69% or 2.20 points to 49.09 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Super Retail Group Ltd (ASX:SUL), which fell 3.24% or 0.34 points to trade at 10.17 at the close. Nanosonics Ltd (ASX:NAN) declined 3.10% or 0.12 points to end at 3.75 and Kogan.com Ltd (ASX:KGN) was down 2.96% or 0.15 points to 4.91.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 805 to 556 and 420 ended unchanged.

Shares in Nanosonics Ltd (ASX:NAN) fell to 3-years lows; down 3.10% or 0.12 to 3.75. Shares in Kogan.com Ltd (ASX:KGN) fell to 52-week lows; falling 2.96% or 0.15 to 4.91.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 9.55% to 18.06.

Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.63% or 12.20 to $1,917.50 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 1.92% or 1.85 to hit $98.29 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 2.64% or 2.64 to trade at $102.55 a barrel.

AUD/USD was unchanged 0.42% to 0.72, while AUD/JPY rose 0.49% to 85.53.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.19% at 98.88.

(Source)