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European stocks hit by ripple effects from Apple

Reuters - UK Focus

* FTSE 300 down 0.3 pct

* Technology shares hit by Apple (NasdaqGS: AAPL - news) disappointment

* EDF (Paris: FR0010242511 - news) shares fall after EU ruling on state aid

* EasyJet (Other OTC: ESYJY - news) , Danske Bank (Copenhagen: DANSKE.CO - news) gain (Adds EDF, TalkTalk, updates prices)

By Liisa Tuhkanen

LONDON, July 22 (Reuters) - European shares dropped in early trading on Wednesday, led lower by technology stocks after Apple (Swiss: AAPL.SW - news) Inc's revenue forecast fell short of estimates, 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 1,589.23 points by 1107 GMT. It fell 1.1 percent in the previous session.

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The STOXX Europe 600 Technology index shed 1.2 percent, with chip designer Arm Holdings (LSE: ARM.L - news) among those falling the most. It fell 4 percent after the results from Apple, a major customer, despite posting a 32 percent rise in second-quarter profit.

German chipmaker Dialog Semiconductor (Xetra: 927200 - news) , another company with ties to Apple, tumbled 6 percent.

Apple said on Tuesday it sold 47.5 million iPhones in the third quarter, up 35 percent from a year ago. But some analysts had expected around 49 million. It also forecast fourth-quarter revenue of $49 billion to $51 billion, missing analysts' average estimate of $51.13 billion according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

"Apple is a really big company, and having disappointed a little bit on the sales side of things, does tend to reverberate around the world in technology stocks," said Wouter Sturkenboom, a senior investment strategist at Russell Investments.

However, he added that in the broader context of receding Greek fears, stock moves remained within the bounds of expected volatility.

"The Greek resolution is now largely priced into European markets, so going forward we're more focused on the European fundamentals ... which we think are very favourable, so we continue to hold European equity overweight on the back of that view," he said.

French utility EDF fell more than 2 percent after the European Commission ordered France to recover 1.37 billion euros ($1.50 billion) from the company because of a tax exemption granted in 1997. The company said it would proceed with the repayment but may appeal the decision.

UK network operator TalkTalk slumped 7.8 percent after warning that competition was ramping up in the broadband market.

Danish lender Danske Bank rose 4 percent after a significant earnings beat.

Europe's second-biggest budget carrier, easyJet, also gained, jumping 4.2 percent on guidance for annual profit growth of up to 14 percent.

"With all the concerns that the market has had about excess capacity in the market and the likely impact on yields, we believe that these results will be well received," Numis analysts wrote in a note.

Europe bourses in 2015: http://link.reuters.com/pap87v

Asset performance in 2015: http://link.reuters.com/gap87v

Today's European research round-up

(Editing by Larry King and Susan Thomas)