Jan 10 (Reuters) - Australian shares fell on Monday as technology stocks tracked a weak finish on Wall Street in the previous session, with surging cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus denting sentiment further. The benchmark ASX 200 index (.AXJO) declined 0.4% to 7,421.3 points by 2313 GMT. Fears of a sooner-than-expected interest rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve dragged Wall Street on Friday, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq index dropped nearly 1%. Local technology stocks mirrored the index"s move on Monday. The tech sub-index (.AXIJ) shed 1.8% to hit its lowest level since June last year, dragged by Zip Co Ltd (Z1P.AX) and EML Payments Ltd (EML.AX), losing about 3.4% and 1.6%, respectively. Meanwhile, authorities in the country reinstated some restrictions to battle a record spike in COVID-19 infections, with an official modelling indicating that the Omicron outbreak in New South Wales could peak by January-end. read more Among individual shares and sectors, the "Big Four" banks fell between 0.3% and 0.9%, while the broader financial sub-index (.AXFJ) fell 0.7%. Gold stocks (.AXGD) followed suit, dropping 0.3%, with gold miner Northern Star Resources Ltd (NST.AX) declining 0.6%. The energy sub-index (.AXEJ), however, shrugged off weaker oil prices to add 0.7%. Whitehaven Coal Ltd (WHC.AX) declined 1.3% to be one of the biggest pct losers on the sub-index. Miners (.AXMM) also rose 1.5% on stronger iron ore and metal prices, with global iron ore miners Rio Tinto (RIO.AX) and BHP Group (BHP.AX) up 2.8% and 1.9%. In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index (.NZ50) fell 0.6% to 12,899.5 points. Media firm SKY Network Television Ltd (SKT.NZ) fell 2.8% to a near four-week low and headed for its fourth straight day of losses. Elsewhere, Japan"s Nikkei (.N225) was down 0.03%, while the S&P 500 E-minis futures slipped 0.3%.