Europe: Shares hover below record high, telecom stocks jump

[BENGALURU] European stocks hovered below record highs on Tuesday as caution ahead of a European Central Bank meeting later this week offset gains in the telecoms sector following a Deutsche Telekom deal.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index slipped 0.1 per cent by 7.19am GMT, after coming just a point below its record high in the previous session.

Media and utilities fell the most among sectors, while telecoms gained 0.8 per cent.

Deutsche Telekom rose 2.5 per cent after it struck a share-swap deal with Softbank Group to increase its stake in US unit T-Mobile and sold its Dutch unit.

Shares in Sweden's Tele2 rose 1 per cent, while KPN gained almost 4 per cent.

Germany's Allianz slipped 0.5 per cent after Reuters reported that regulators have launched an investigation into the company after the demise of some of its US investment funds last year.

REUTERS