Australian stocks snapped a four-day winning streak on Thursday, dragged down by declines in technology and energy shares, while Sydney Airport gained following regulatory approval for its buyout and helped cap losses.
The S&P/ASX 200 index settled 0.3% lower at 7,384.5. The index gained 1.3% on Wednesday, its best session since Oct. 4.
Energy stocks fell 1.1% after recording four consecutive session of gains, even as oil prices extended a rally on confidence that the Omicron coronavirus variant would not dent global growth.
Beach Energy fell 4% to post its worst session since Nov. 26, while Santos dropped 1.6%.
Shares of Sydney Airport Holdings closed 2.9% higher to scale a 23-months high after the country's competition regulator approved its A$23.6 billion ($16.92 billion) takeover.
Separately, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that payroll jobs in the fortnight to Nov. 13 rose 0.2%, following a 1.5% rise in the two weeks before.
"The labour market seems to have taken a breather following a rapid recovery in the second half of October due to the lockdown-exit effect," said Kunal Sawhney, CEO of Kalkine Group.
Technology stocks dropped 0.9%, after gaining over 4% in the last two sessions. Software firm Xero and electronics solutions developer Codan fell 3.2% and 3.5%, respectively.
Buy now, pay later firm Zip Co Ltd ended 4.2% lower after Citi research cut the stock's price target on slowing growth in the United States.
Miners fell 0.4%, tracking an overnight downturn in Chinese stainless steel futures. Rio Tinto fell 0.9%, while BHP Group dropped 1.2%.
Meanwhile, market participants around the world waited for US inflation data on Friday, seen as a prelude to the Federal Reserve's meeting next week.
In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index closed 0.8% lower at 12,771.83.
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