PARIS, Jan 26 Reuters LVMH shares jumped as much as 9 in early Friday trade, boosting peers including Kering and Hermes, as the French luxury giant39;s latest sales figures reassured investors about the sector39;s ability to cope with economic headwinds.

LVMH posted a 10 rise in fourthquarter sales on Thursday, driven by resilient demand including from Chinese buyers for its highend fashion over the endofyear trading period.

Investors had grown skittish about the industry39;s prospects following LVMH39;s previous report in October which showed its sales growth slowed to 9 after a long spell of routinely outpacing expectations with strong doubledigit growth.

At a results presentation on Thursday, LVMH Chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault said he was happy with the company39;s current growth rate.

With its latest report, LVMH reassured and coped nicely with a sharp slowdown in sales momentum in the second half, Jefferies analyst James Grzinic wrote in a note to clients, adding the report should steady nerves in the near term.

As the sector comes down from the high paced growth seen after the pandemic, the diverging fortunes of brands has come into view, with those catering to wealthier clients, like Hermes, better equipped for economic challenges than those pursuing turnarounds, like Burberry, which issued a profit warning earlier this month.

But shares of Burberry also traded higher on Friday, up 1.8.

LVMH was top gainer on the eurozone bluechip STOXX50E.

Reporting…