nov 29 reuters  australian shares closed lower on monday for the second straight session as the country reported its first cases of the omicron coronavirus variant over the weekend the spasx 200 index axjo settled 054 lower at 72397 after dropping more than 1 in early trade to its lowest in nearly two months australia confirmed two cases of the new omicron variant on sunday putting the countrys reopening plans in jeopardy read more omicron dubbed a variant of concern by the world health organization is potentially more contagious than previous variants experts do not know yet if it will cause more or less severe covid19 compared to other strains the global markets sold off last week after the omicron jolt and even though we bounced back a little today markets will be nervous until there is more clarity said brad smoling managing director at smoling stockbroking the mining and tech sectors led the partial recovery from early falls as iron ore prices rose and bond yields declined while financial and travel stocks bore the brunt of the selling a slump in bond yields pulled financial stocks axfj down 107 to multimonth lows commonwealth bank of australia cbaax the countrys biggest lender dropped 11 while the rest of the big four banks skidded between 08 and 17 travel stocks dropped to multimonth lows with airline operator qantas airways qanax hitting its weakest level in three months while online travel websites flight centre travel group fltax and webjet webax slumped as much as 113 and 84 respectively major miners axmm rose 081 as chinese iron ore futures rallied with bhp group bhpax rio tinto rioax and fortescue metals fmgax advancing between 1 and 24 technology stocks axij climbed 059 as a sharp retreat in bond yields reduced the cost of borrowing software maker technologyone tneax advanced 31 while network operator megaport ltd mp1ax gained 17 reporting by riya sharma in bengaluru editing by subhranshu sahu