While fixing French carmaker Renault SA, Chief Executive Officer Luca de Meo pursued a hobby that would feed into his next job as CEO of Kering SA: A taste for the finer things in life, particularly Swiss watches.

Francois-Henri Pinault's decision to hire Renault boss Luca de Meo is an audacious but necessary move to address the twin challenge of sagging sales and mounting debt at luxury group Kering , investors and industry players say.

Reports of de Meo’s switch to Kering sent the luxury group’s shares up by nearly 12% on Monday, recording their biggest one-day percentage gain since November 2008.

Shares of Kering, the luxury-goods company behind Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and other brands, rallied as much as 10% on Monday after reportedly luring Renault’s chief executive to run the company.

LONDON (Reuters) -News of Renault Chief Executive Luca de Meo's decision to leave the French carmaker and subsequent reports of him being lined up to take charge at luxury goods group Kering has created a stir across their respective sectors. Here's some initial reaction from analysts.

François-Henri Pinault is stepping back as CEO of Kering, hoping Luca de Meo can pull Gucci and Saint Laurent’s parent company out of a slump.

European shares made cautious gains on Monday, with Gucci -owner Kering leading the pack following a leadership change. The news helped to break a five-day losing streak as investors pivot from the conflict in the Middle East. The pan-European STOXX 600 ended 0.4 per cent higher amid the developments.

Authorities in Ho Chi Minh City have shut down two stores at Saigon Square for selling fake Hermes, Louis Vuitton, and Gucci products priced from as little as $6, as part of a crackdown on counterfeit goods.