Wall Street hit a new record high on Wednesday as Donald Trump emerged victorious in the US presidential election race.

Investors are racing into riskier assets following the Republicans’ win, with the S&P 500 ( ^GSPC ) hitting a new intraday high and the Dow Jones ( ^DJI ) also soaring to a fresh high. The FTSE 100 ( ^FTSE ) and European stocks were also higher on the back of the news.

David Morrison, senior market analyst at fintech and financial services provider Trade Nation, said: "Donald Trump looked like the clear winner within a few hours of the polls closing. US stock indices had already posted a strongly positive session on Tuesday, making back most of the losses from the end of last week.

"It appeared that many traders were convinced that the polls were understating the positive momentum which showed up in Trump’s numbers over the last fortnight. But it’s worth pondering whether the strength of the stock market rally is due to Trump winning, or relief that there’s a clear and uncontested result. In truth, it’s probably a bit of both."

Read more: Stocks to watch as Donald Trump wins the US election

Trump declared this morning that it was a “magnificent victory for the American people” and that it would “help our country heal”.

"America has given us an unprecedented and powerful mandate,” he said as he hailed a Republican victory as the 47th president of the world's largest economy in the Senate.

As he beat Kamala Harris to the White House, Trump will become only the second president to serve non-consecutive terms in history, and the first for well over a hundred years, after Grover Cleveland in the late 19th century.

The US dollar was up by more than 1.5% against a basket of other major currencies, including the euro, pound and the Japanese yen. It is on track for its biggest one-day rise since March 2020.

The price of bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) and bond yields also surged on the back of the news as markets awaited official confirmation of the outcome.

Trump has stated that he will dramatically increase trade tariffs, especially on China, if he won the election.