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% by 0719 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%.

Deutsche Telekom rose 2.5% after it struck a share-swap deal with Softbank Group (9984.T) to increase its stake in U.S. unit T-Mobile (TMUS.O) and sold its Dutch unit. read more

Shares in Sweden’s Tele2  rose 1%, while KPN (KPN.AS) gained almost 4%.

Germany’s Allianz slipped 0.5% after Reuters reported that regulators have launched an investigation into the company after the demise of some of its U.S. investment funds last year