Photo: The Canadian Press

TORONTO — Canada’s main stock index climbed nearly 1.5% on its best day in 10 months amid a broad-based rally with strength in financials despite uncertainty about the latest COVID-19 variant.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 297.43 points to 20,762.03 for its strongest performance since Feb. 1.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 617.75 points, or 1.8%, at 34,639.79. The S&P 500 index was up 64.06 points at 4,577.10, while the Nasdaq composite was up 127.27 points at 15,381.32.

Markets bounced back strongly from Wednesday when the first confirmed U.S. case of the Omicron variant caused an afternoon collapse.

“The down days are headline news induced, the up days seem to be more fundamentally induced,” said Kevin Headland, co-chief investment strategist at Manulife Investment Management.

He said the COVID variant will remain a concern until there is concrete information from vaccine manufacturers. However, initial information suggests that those who are vaccinated face mild symptoms.

“There was a knee-jerk reaction to the announcement of new cases,” he said.

Headland said the fundamentals remain quite strong with companies that beat estimates being rewarded while headline news resulting in a “short-term hiccup.”

The Canadian dollar fell to its lowest level in 10 weeks, trading for 78.03 cents US compared with 78.27 cents US on Wednesday.