STOCKS NEWS EUROPE-Dialog Semiconductor up on strong iPhone sales

Shares in Dialog Semiconductor (Xetra: DLG.DE - news) rise 7.5 percent to a two-year high at the top of Germany's technology index in early trade after Apple (TLO: AP-U.TI - news) reports better-than-expected iPhone sales for the first quarter, traders say.

Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL - news) , which accounts for about 70 percent of Dialog's total group revenues, sold 43.7 million iPhones in the quarter ending March, far outpacing the roughly 38 million that Wall Street had predicted.

"Good news for Dialog Semiconductor," DZ Bank analyst Harald Schnitzer writes in a note to clients. "The product pipeline with Apple remains well filled."

Shares of other European companies working in the chip industry are also up. The STOXX Europe 600 Technology Index gains 0.7 percent in line with the broader market. Shares in British ARM gain 1.1 percent and Dutch ASML rises 0.7 percent.

Apple shares jumped 7.3 percent at Wall Street after the closing bell.

Reuters messaging rm://kirsti.knolle.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net