By Rodrigo Campos

A gauge of stocks across the world ended little changed on Thursday as declining semiconductor shares were offset by optimism over the future path of interest rate hikes from the U.S. Federal Reserve, while those rate bets weighed on the dollar.

Overnight in South Korea, the KOSPI index tumbled nearly 8% as Meta Platforms' NASDAQ:META plan to sell computing power raised questions over excess AI capacity. A U.S. index of semiconductor shares NASDAQ:SOX dropped 5.5%. European stocks rose, boosted partly by the expectation of fewer rate hikes.

U.S. data showed job growth slowed more than expected in June while payroll gains for the prior two months were revised lower, pointing to a cooling labor market and dialing back expectations for a near-term interest rate hike from the Fed. Some 57,000 jobs were added last month, versus an expectation of 110,000.

The U.S. central bank "has been talking tough on inflation, and a stronger labor market would have only raised the temperature," said eToro U.S. investment analyst  Bret Kenwell. "Today's report doesn't scream labor-market trouble, but it does cool the narrative a bit."

The dollar index TVC:DXY, which measures the greenback against a basket of peer currencies, fell 0.52% — the most in two months — to 100.87, with the euro FX:EURUSD up 0.48% at $1.1431. Against the Japanese yen FX_IDC:USDJPY, the dollar weakened 0.91% to 161.08.

Emerging market currencies also strengthened versus the dollar, up 0.3% on the day (.MIEM00000CUS).

Oil prices were little changed, with traders eying progress in talks between over ending the four-month-old war that shut shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. crude NYMEX:CL1! fell 0.15% to $68.47 a barrel and Brent ICEEUR:BRN1! rose to $71.60 per barrel, up 0.04% on the day.

In equity markets, the S&P 500 CBOE:SPX ended the day flat after falling and rising more than 0.7% throughout the session. The Nasdaq Composite TVC:IXIC fell 207.36 points, or 0.80%, to 25,832.67 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJ:DJI rose 594.83 points, or 1.14%, to a fresh record closing high of 52,900.07. Meta Platforms NASDAQ:META fell nearly 5%.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe EURONEXT:IACWI rose 0.79 point, or 0.07%, to 1,118.74. The pan-European STOXX 600 TVC:SXXP index rose 1.41%, while emerging market stocks CBOE:EFS fell 37.75 points, or 2.19%, to 1,684.18.

Spot gold TVC:GOLD rose 2.24% to $4,119.36 an ounce and spot silver BIST:XAGUSD1! rose 2.85% to $60.83 an ounce, partly supported by the dollar's weakness.

U.S. markets will be closed on Friday to observe the Independence Day holiday, which falls on Saturday.