June 7 (Reuters) - GameStop's ( GME ) shares surged more

than 30% in premarket trading on Friday as investors geared up

for the YouTube return of "Roaring Kitty", the stock influencer

whose recent social media posts have sparked a rally in

so-called meme stocks.

The video game retailer's shares jumped 35% to $62.50 in

heavy volume.

"Roaring Kitty", whose real name is Keith Gill, returned to

social media platform X in mid-May, after a three-year hiatus,

sparking a rally in GameStop's ( GME ) shares.

The rally cooled before the stock shot up again on Thursday

when the "Roaring Kitty" channel on YouTube showed an upcoming

livestream scheduled for 12 p.m. ET (1600 GMT) on Friday.

Gill was a key driver of the rally in 2021 in GameStop ( GME ) and

other so-called meme stocks that was fueled by individual

investors on Reddit's wallstreetbets forum.

The shares of other meme stocks -- including AMC

Entertainment ( AMC ), U.S.-listed shares of BlackBerry,

Koss Corp ( KOSS ) -- rose between 6.1% and 13% on Friday.