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 (.AXJO) 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 (BPT.AX) fell 4% to post its worst session since Nov. 26, while Santos (STO.AX) dropped 1.6%. Shares of Sydney Airport Holdings (SYD.AX) 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. read more 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 (.AXIJ) dropped 0.9%, after gaining over 4% in the last two sessions. Software firm Xero (XRO.AX) and electronics solutions developer Codan (CDA.AX) fell 3.2% and 3.5%, respectively. Buy now, pay later firm Zip Co Ltd (Z1P.AX) ended 4.2% lower after Citi research cut the stock"s price target on slowing growth in the United States. Miners (.AXMM) fell 0.4%, tracking an overnight downturn in Chinese stainless steel futures. Rio Tinto (RIO.AX) fell 0.9%, while BHP Group (BHP.AX) dropped 1.2%. Meanwhile, market participants around the world waited for U.S. 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 (.NZ50) closed 0.8% lower at 12,771.83. Reporting by Harish Sridharan in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.