European stocks rise near records led by automakers

European stocks rose on Wednesday, rising for the second straight day, near all-time highs thanks to improved market sentiment about the global economy's recovery from the pandemic, led by the automotive sector.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.2% as of 11:15 GMT, after closing higher by 0.75% yesterday and hit its all-time high of 452.4 points.

The automotive sector saw the largest gains in Europe today, with a jump of more than 1%, thanks to rising car sales during the second half of this year.

Data showed on Tuesday in the manufacturing sector in Europe and the US grew during May, which increased hopes about the global economy's recovery from the pandemic.

S&P 500 futures rose today by about 0.2%, and the index ended yesterday's session on Wall Street, down by less than 0.1%, in the first loss in the last four sessions.

Back to Europe, the Euro Stoxx 50 index rose 0.1%, France's CAC 40 rose 0.2%, Germany's DAX index rose 0.1%, and the UK's FTSE 100 rose 0.15%.