PARIS/FRANKFURT/LONDON/ZÜRICH (dpa-AFX) - A strong start to the year by French luxury goods group LVMH provided a tailwind for the entire sector on Thursday. On the German stock market, Adidas, Hugo Boss and Puma SE were all in the mix - although their gains were not quite as strong as those of pure luxury goods manufacturers.

LVMH itself reached another record high of 878.20 euros - most recently, the shares gained 4.5 percent to 874.30 euros as the top performer in the EuroStoxx 50. Market capitalization currently stands at around 439 billion euros - making LVMH by far the most valuable listed company in the Eurozone's leading index. Its French competitor Hermes has a market capitalization of just under 206 billion euros, while Kering is far behind with 70 billion euros.

Analysts expressed confidence in LVMH's future prospects. "In principle, we assume that the stable growth trend in the luxury segment will continue," said Landesbank Baden-Württemberg. "LVMH, as the market leader, should benefit disproportionately from this. In 2023, organic growth should weaken somewhat due to base factors, but still remain in double digits."

Deutsche Bank analysts highlighted the strong performance in China. This also supported high expectations for luxury goods stocks such as Hermes and Burberry. Hermes, the second best-performing Eurostoxx stock, also rose sharply by 3.2 percent, while Burberry was up 1.8 percent in London.

Not quite as groundbreaking were the figures for Kering, according to Deutsche Bank, given the geographic spread of demand. At a 2 percent premium, then, the stock's gains were not as high. Analysts described LVMH's watch business as a less good omen for Swatch. The share price gains moved here just under 1.5 percent.

Good business in leather and fashion had given LVMH a bright start to the year. In the first quarter, sales were up 17 percent year-on-year to a good 21 billion euros. It thus exceeded the average expectations of analysts by more than one billion euros. The company had already achieved a record year in 2022.

In 2023 alone, LVMH shares have now already gained around 30 percent in value./mf/bek/gl/mis