Sri Lankan shares dropped over 2% on Friday to extend losses for the third straight session, as sentiment was soured by the discovery of the first Omicron variant patient in the country. * The CSE All-Share index (.CSE) fell 2.35% to end at 10,988.3, marking its worst session in two weeks. The index also fell 1.9% for the week, though it continued to hover near record levels * Commercial Leasing and Finance Plc (COLE.CM) and LOLC Finance Plc (LOLF.CM) were the biggest drags on the index, dropping 23.6% and 8.6%, respectively. The losses were led by financial and industrial stocks * The country"s health ministry said the new coronavirus variant was identified in a Sri Lankan national who had recently returned from South Africa * Meanwhile, large parts of the island nation suffered a power outage as state power workers scrambled to get a key transmission line operational read more * On Thursday, the country"s central bank unveiled a plan to encourage migrant workers to remit funds using formal channels read more * The equity market"s turnover was 7.08 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($35.22 million), according to stock exchange data. * Trading volume rose to 305.8 million shares from 252.4 million shares in the previous session. * Foreign investors were net buyers in the equity market, picking up shares worth about 86.7 million rupees, as per exchange data. * The island-nation reported 738 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total to 565,471, data from the country"s health bureau showed. * About 63.08% of the country"s population has been fully vaccinated so far, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. * For a report on global markets, click ($1 = 201.0000 Sri Lankan rupees)