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By Aaditya GovindRao

July 18 (Reuters) -Australian shares closed slightly lower on Thursday as banks and tech firms weighed on the benchmark, while strong domestic jobs growth stoked fears about the central bank raising interest rates.

The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO fell 0.3% to 8,036.5 points at the close of trade. The benchmark was only a few points below the all-time high level scaled in the previous session.

Australian jobs grew much higher than market expectations in June, data showed on Thursday, causing investors to slightly raise their bets for a rate hike from the Reserve Bank of Australia in August. Swaps now imply a 20% probability of a rate increase, up from from 12% earlier. 0#RBAWATCH

"The market is trading at historic highs under the assumption of rate cuts. Strong employment means rate hikes are likely. That raises the risk of market pullback," said Mathan Somasundaram, CEO at Deep Data Analytics.

Globally, tech stocks were under pressure after a media report said the United States was mulling tighter curbs on exports of advanced semiconductor technology to China, triggering a sell-off on Wall Street and Asian tech stocks.

Australian tech stocks .AXIJ closed 3.4% lower, tracking a sharp plunge in their Wall Street peers. WiseTech Global WTC.AX and REA Group REA.AX were the top points losers, declining 6.3% and 4.1%, respectively.

"We are way over stretched on the AI fantasy," Somasundaram said, adding that the "downside risk" was rising by the day.

Banks .AXFJ lost 0.2%, breaking a seven-day winning streak. Top lenders Commonwealth Bank of Australia CBA.AX and National Australia Bank NAB.AX dropped 0.6% and 0.2%, respectively.

Miners .AXMM lost 0.4% as the prices of iron ore and most base metals declined. IRONORE/ MET/L

Fortescue FMG.AX declined 1.4% after announcing layoffs and saying it was unlikely to meet its production target of green hydrogen by 2030.

Domino's Pizza Enterprises DMP.AX shed 8.2% to its lowest level since February 2015, on flagging store closures and forecasting flat store growth.

In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 gained 0.3% to finish the session at 12,329.44 points.

Reporting by Aaditya Govind Rao in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala

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