diff --git a/autotests/input/highlight.rst b/autotests/input/highlight.rst
--- a/autotests/input/highlight.rst
+++ b/autotests/input/highlight.rst
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+http://docutils.sourceforge.net/docs/ref/rst/restructuredtext.html
+
 A heading
 #########
 
diff --git a/data/syntax/markdown.xml b/data/syntax/markdown.xml
--- a/data/syntax/markdown.xml
+++ b/data/syntax/markdown.xml
@@ -40,10 +40,12 @@
 <!-- emphasis text -->
 <!ENTITY emphasisregex_ast "\*(?:&contentregex_ast;\*|\*{1,4}&contentregex_ast;\*(?!\*))">
 <!ENTITY emphasisregex_und "\b_(?:&contentregex_und;_+|_{1,4}&contentregex_und;_)\b">
-<!-- links -->
+<!-- links.
+     Keep in sync with reStructuredText (rest) -->
 <!ENTITY startlink "(?:https?|ftp)\://">
 <!ENTITY link "&startlink;[^&quot;&gt;\s]+">
-<!-- link in normal text -->
+<!-- link in normal text.
+     Keep in sync with reStructuredText’s (rest) StandaloneHyperlink attribute -->
 <!ENTITY implicitlink "\b&startlink;[^&quot;&gt;\s`\)]*[^\s!&quot;&apos;`\(\)\*,\.:;&lt;&gt;\?~\]\}\\](?=[[:punct:]]*(?:[\s\)]|$))">
 <!-- references: [name], [name][id], [name][id] "title", [name](https://example.com) -->
 <!ENTITY refchar "(?:\\.|[^\]\\])">
diff --git a/data/syntax/rest.xml b/data/syntax/rest.xml
--- a/data/syntax/rest.xml
+++ b/data/syntax/rest.xml
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@
         <!ENTITY inlinestart "(^|[-\s&apos;&quot;\(\[{&lt;/:‘“’«¡¿‐‑‒–— ])">
         <!ENTITY inlineend "(?=[-\s’”»‐‑‒–— &apos;&quot;\)\]}&gt;/:\.,;!\?\\]|$)">
         <!ENTITY SimpleReferenceNameChars "\w_\.:\+\-">
+
+        <!-- Keep in sync with Markdown -->
+        <!ENTITY startlink "(?:https?|ftp)\://">
 ]>
 <!--
   This file is part of KDE's kate project.
@@ -30,6 +33,10 @@
         <RegExpr attribute="SubstitutionDefinition" context="#stay" String="^\s*\.\. \|[&SimpleReferenceNameChars; ]+\|\s+[&SimpleReferenceNameChars;]+::\s" minimal="true" column="0"/>
         <RegExpr attribute="Field" String=":(?=([^:]*\\:)*[^:]*:(\s|$))" context="Field" firstNonSpace="true"/>
         <RegExpr attribute="Comment" context="Comment" String="^(\s*)\.\.(\s|$)(?!([\w\-_\.]+)(:[\w\-_\.]+)*::(\s|$))" column="0"/>
+
+        <!-- Keep in sync with Markdown’s implicitlink entity -->
+        <RegExpr attribute="StandaloneHyperlink" context="#stay" String="\b&startlink;[^&quot;&gt;\s`\)]*[^\s!&quot;&apos;`\(\)\*,\.:;&lt;&gt;\?~\]\}\\](?=[[:punct:]]*(?:[\s\)]|$))" />
+
       </context>
 
       <context name="InlineMarkup" attribute="Normal" lineEndContext="#stay">
@@ -97,6 +104,7 @@
       <itemData name="DefaultRole" defStyleNum="dsDecVal" />
       <itemData name="Code" defStyleNum="dsDataType" />
       <itemData name="Comment" defStyleNum="dsComment" />
+      <itemData name="StandaloneHyperlink" defStyleNum="dsOthers" />
     </itemDatas>
 
   </highlighting>