Recovering Alcatel-Lucent seen rejoining France’s CAC 40

Via Blaise Robinson and Alexandre Boksenbaum-Granier PARIS (Reuters) – Alcatel-Lucent could rejoin France's blue-chip CAC forty index subsequent month as the telecom tools maker's turnaround positive aspects traction and its inventory hits two-12 months highs, analysts and fund managers said. If restored to the CAC forty, Alcatel would profit from demand from index trackers of about 255 million euros, or eighty one million shares, similar to two moderate days of quantity, Exane BNP Paribas index analyst Christophe Wakim said. Alcatel – a founding member of the CAC forty when the benchmark was created a quarter century in the past – was kicked out of the index a year in the past. Alcatel, which makes equipment for giant telecom groups like AT&T and Orange, had been stuck for years in a downsizing spiral as it struggled with stiff competition from low-value Chinese language competitors and vulnerable demand from customers.