Dollar slides after jobs data, chipmakers weigh on stocks

By Rodrigo Campos

NEW YORK, July 2 (Reuters) - 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' plan to sell computing power raised questions over excess AI capacity. A U.S. index of semiconductor shares 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, which measures the greenback against a basket of peer currencies, fell 0.52% — the most in two months — to 100.87, with the euro up 0.48% at $1.1431. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar weakened 0.91% to 161.08.

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

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

U.S. crude fell 0.15% to $68.47 a barrel and Brent rose to $71.60 per barrel, up 0.04% on the day.

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

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

Spot gold rose 2.24% to $4,119.36 an ounce and spot silver 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.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Additional reporting by Karen Brettell, Caroline Valetkevitch, Niket Nishant and Avinash P; Editing by Nick Zieminski, Edmund Klamann and Matthew Lewis)