CORRECTED-LIVE MARKETS-Carpets, phones ... and consulting

(Correcting headline) June 25 - Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of European equity markets brought to you by Reuters stocks reporters and anchored today by Josephine Mason. Reach her on Messenger to share your thoughts on market moves: josephine.mason.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net CARPETS, PHONES ... AND CONSULTING (0659 GMT) It's not considered the most exciting industry, but dealmaking in France's IT consultancy sector has caused most of the excitement so far this morning - business consultancy firm Capgemini has agreed to buy French engineering and digital services company Altran for 3.6 billion euros ($4.10 billion) in cash to create a global IT powerhouse. Dealers have welcomed the acquisition, which is expected to be earnings accretive from year one and will give the company a foothold in the fast-growing engineering outsourcing services market. Capgemini could rise as much as 10% and Altran up to 18% on the news. Although the deal is not expected to cause major anti-competition issues given the fragmented nature of the market, watch rival SAP for whom it ramps up competition. Elsewhere in corporate news, shares in KPN are expected to come under pressure after the Dutch telecoms group suffered a nationwide outage of its network yesterday and this morning announced its CEO Maximo Ibarra will leave in September citing family reasons. And finally some good news from the UK high street: Britain's biggest floor coverings retailer Carpetright appears to be back on track, reporting a narrower loss and rising sales growth after it closed stores to stay afloat. The shares are seen rising. Across the broader benchmarks though, stocks look set to open lower as investors brace for the G20 summit and simmering tensions in the Middle East force them to seek the safety of gold and other asset classes considered attractive during times of economic and political strife. The main Eurostoxx 50 is down 0.4% and Wall Street futures are also under pressure. The pan-European STOXX 600 is still on track for a 4% rise this month though, its best since January after the increasingly dovish signals from the U.S. and euro zone central banks. Some UK headlines: UK's Carpetright narrows loss, says turnaround on track Petrofac gets $1.7 bln in orders, points to stronger second half Mears Sees FY Results In Line With Previous Guidance (Josephine Mason) ***** ON OUR RADAR: DRUGS, FASHION AND ... CONSULTING (0617 GMT) European stock futures have opened, as expected, on the back foot with Washington's latest Iranian sanctions and the upcoming G20 summit looming large for investors who prefer the safety of gold and other havens. There's a bit of dealmaking to digest this morning that could move individual stocks and stir sector-wide M&A hopes. French business consultancy firm Capgemini has agreed to buy engineering and digital services company Altran for 3.6 billion euros ($4.10 billion) in cash to tap into the fast-growing engineering outsourcing services market. The news could hurt rivals like SAP, for whom it ramps up competition. French fashion group SMCP will buy men's luxury clothing company De Fursac, in a deal it says will boost its earnings this year and fit with its other existing brands such as Sandro. In banking, hopes that Commerzbank may salvage a merger with a European rival from the wreckage of its failed talks with Deutsche Bank will have to be put on hold for now - Italy's UniCredit has put a possible bid for the German bank on ice, four sources said. It's a similar situation at Renault - the Japanese carmaker has poured cold water overnight on hopes for a quick fix to its strained relations with France's Renault, saying inequality between the partners could unravel their two-decade-old automaking alliance. For Novartis, some bad news after a liver disease drug it was working on with Conatus in the U.S. failed in a mid-stage trial, throwing the future of the project into question. The Swiss drugmaker says it remains committed to developing treatments for the disease. Dutch telecoms group KPN has suffered a nationwide outage of its network yesterday and this morning announced its ceo Maximo Ibarra will leave in September citing family reasons. Here are your headlines so far: French fashion group SMCP buys men's luxury brand De Fursac Nissan pours cold water on hopes for quick fix to Renault strain Nokia not immune to impact of trade war uncertainty, says its China president EXCLUSIVE-Italy's UniCredit puts possible Commerzbank bid on ice for now-sources Consulting firm Capgemini to buy Altran for 3.6 bln euros Swiss ready to retaliate against EU over stock market access Italian banks reject Apollo's rescue plan for Carige Dutch telecom KPN confirms outage hits fixed line, mobile services nationwide Dutch telecom KPN says unclear how long network outage may last Royal KPN Announces Maximo Ibarra Resigns As CEO (Josephine Mason) ***** SUBDUED START IN EUROPE (0524 GMT) It'll likely be a subdued start to stock trading in Europe this morning with caution continuing to keep a lid on gains amid simmering tensions in the Middle East after Washington slapped fresh sanctions on Iran and ahead of the G20 summit at the weekend, when Presidents Xi and Trump meet to discuss their trade dispute. Financial spreadbetters IG expect London's FTSE to open 19 points lower at 7,397, Frankfurt's DAX to open 41 points down at 12,233, and Paris' CAC to open 14 points lower at 5,508. London's energy heavyweights may be weighed down by weaker oil prices amid concerns about demand, offsetting rising Middle East pressure, while soaring safe-haven gold prices amid the fresh geopolitical stress will likely bolster the City's gold and silver miners again. (Josephine Mason) ***** (Reporting by Danilo Masoni, Helen Reid, Josephine Mason and Thyagaraju Adinarayan)