Investing.com – Canada stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the IT , Energy and Materials sectors led shares higher.

At the close in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite gained 5.42%.

The best performers of the session on the S&P/TSX Composite were Baytex Energy Corp (TSX: BTE ), which rose 22.12% or 0.46 points to trade at 2.54 at the close. Meanwhile, Vermilion Energy Inc . (TSX: VET ) added 20.34% or 1.57 points to end at 9.29 and Aritzia Inc (TSX: ATZ ) was up 18.64% or 7.19 points to 45.77 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Quebecor Inc Class B (TSX: QBRb ), which fell 2.12% or 0.76 points to trade at 35.02 at the close. Hydro One Limited (TSX: H ) declined 2.03% or 0.98 points to end at 47.28 and Emera Incorporated (TSX: EMA ) was down 1.52% or 0.89 points to 57.67.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Toronto Stock Exchange by 796 to 173 and 64 ended unchanged.

The S&P/TSX 60 VIX , which measures the implied volatility of S&P/TSX Composite options, was up 9.12% to 27.89 a new 5-year high.

Gold Futures for June delivery was up 4.00% or 119.61 to $3,109.81 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 5.14% or 3.06 to hit $62.64 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 4.60% or 2.89 to trade at $65.71 a barrel.

CAD/USD was up 1.33% to 0.71, while CAD/EUR rose 1.34% to 0.65.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.03% at 102.73.