LONDON, May 26 — European shares hovered near a 11-week high today, with UK markets surging after a long weekend, as businesses worldwide gradually reopened following a months-long lockdown.

The pan-European STOXX 600 rose 1 per cent by 0708 GMT after hitting its highest level since March 10.

Returning from a bank holiday, UK’s FTSE 100 surged 1.9 per cent as Prime Minister Boris Johnson said yesterday Britain will reopen thousands of high street shops, department stores and shopping centres next month.

Aston Martin soared 24.8 per cent after the UK luxury carmaker confirmed that Tobias Moers, CEO of Mercedes-AMG, would become its chief executive officer.

Wall Street futures also rallied 2 per cent, as hopes of further policy support and improving economic data fuelled hopes of a faster economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

Paris-headquartered shopping centre operator Klepierre SA jumped 6.7 per cent after saying it had reopened 80 per cent of its European malls and hopes to reopen 90 per cent of them within 10 days.

French carmakers Renault SA and Peugeot SA jumped nearly 4 per cent as President Emmanuel Macron said support for the hard-hit car sector will be "massively amplified”. — Reuters