Australian shares fell on Tuesday, dragged by Woolworths Group as it forecast lower first-half operating income from its local food business, while tech stocks tracked their U.S. peers lower. The S&P/ASX 200 index (.AXJO) fell 0.4% to 7,349.10 by 2351 GMT. The benchmark had closed 0.35% higher on Monday. Shares of Woolworths (WOW.AX), the country"s biggest supermarket chain, slumped as much as 10.6% and were on track for their worst session in more than a decade, while rival Coles (COL.AX) fell 5.5%. read more Tech stocks (.AXIJ) slipped 0.5%, following a weaker finish on the Nasdaq (.IXIC) as investors worried about the potential impact of the Omicron coronavirus variant ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting later this week. Investors expect an increasingly hawkish tone out of the Fed"s two-day meeting that wraps up on Wednesday. The central bank is expected to signal a faster wind-down of asset purchases, which could also usher closer a start to interest rate hikes. Sector heavyweight Afterpay (APT.AX) led losses on the tech sub-index, falling as much as 3.5% to hit its lowest in more than six months. Energy stocks (.AXEJ) eased 0.5%, tracking a dip in oil prices on worries that rising coronavirus cases could hit fuel demand. Sector majors Whitehaven Coal (WHC.AX) and Ampol (ALD.AX) were down 1.7% and 1.1%, respectively. Financials (.AXFJ) were down 0.4%, with the big four banks losing between 0.1% and 0.8% In New Zealand, the benchmark stock index (.NZ50) slipped 0.4% to 12,944.49, with industrials and financial stocks leading the losses. Reporting by Tejaswi Marthi in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.