European shares fall in early deals, led lower by ARM

LONDON, July 22 (Reuters) - European shares dropped in early trading on Wednesday, led lower by chip designer ARM after disappointing results from major client Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL - news) , as the quarterly earnings season gathered pace in Europe and on Wall Street.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 0.5 percent at 1,589.06 points by 0706 GMT after falling 1.1 percent in the previous session.

Arm Holdings (LSE: ARM.L - news) was the biggest faller, down 4.1 percent. Although ARM posted a 32-percent rise in second-quarter profit, traders said the company was dragged down by disappointing results from major customer Apple.

Europe's second-biggest budget carrier easyJet was the top gainer on the blue-chip pan-European index, jumping 4.4 percent on guidance to annual profit growth of up to 14 percent.

(Reporting by Liisa Tuhkanen; Editing by Alistair Smout)