Australian shares fell at open on Thursday, as concerns over the new Omicron coronavirus variant kept investors jittery, while Afterpay fell over 5% after postponing meeting to vote on its $29 billion deal with Jack Dorsey-led Square Inc. The S&P/ASX 200 index (.AXJO) fell 0.54% to 7,197.1 by 2354 GMT, after ending 0.28% lower on Wednesday. The losses come a day after the country reported that its third quarter GDP fall was not as bad as anticipated, when its major cities were under lockdown. read more Miners (.AXMM) were among the top losers on the benchmark, dropping as much as 2%. Heavyweights BHP Group (BHP.AX), Rio Tinto (RIO.AX) and Fortescue Metals Group (FMG.AX) slumped between 0.8% and 1.3%. Tech stocks (.AXIJ) fell as much as 3.5%, dragged lower by Afterpay (APT.AX) dropping to its lowest since July after delaying its shareholder meeting to vote on its acquisition by Square Inc (SQ.N), pending regulatory approval from the Spanish central bank. read more Openpay, which is not a part of the main index, however advanced as much as 8.3% after signing a partnership with American Express (AXP.N) to let AmEx"s card holders to fund purchases with its buy now, pay later (BNPL) service. In one of the country"s biggest deals this year, Australian Pharmaceutical Industries (API.AX) soared as much as 16.4% to a more than three-year high, after it received a buyout proposal from supermarket chain Woolworths (WOW.AX) for $613 million, outbidding competitor Wesfarmers (WES.AX). read more Woolworths and Wesfarmers lost 0.7% and 0.3%, respectively on the news. New Zealand"s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index (.NZ50) fell 0.48% by 2354 GMT.