TOKYO — Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 0.81% on Monday, closing at 63,492.99, down 518.35 points, as renewed anxiety over the pace of artificial intelligence development combined with surging oil prices to extend a losing streak for Japanese equities into a second consecutive week.

The index touched a six-week low during the session, at one point falling as much as 1.7% and briefly slipping below the 63,000 mark before paring some of its losses by the close. The decline followed a similarly rough session Friday, when the Nikkei dropped 1.93% to 64,011.34 and the broader Topix index slid 0.65%, as both benchmarks logged steep weekly losses. Volatility spiked alongside the selling, with the Nikkei Stock Average Volatility Index jumping 5.27% to 31.37. The Nikkei Semiconductor Stock Index, a gauge of chip-related names, fell 2.62% on the day.

Technology and AI-linked stocks bore the brunt of the selling once again Monday, with SoftBank Group and Kioxia Holdings among the session's biggest losers, extending declines from Friday's session, when SoftBank Group tumbled 12%, Kioxia Holdings fell 8.6%, Taiyo Yuden dropped 8.3%, Advantest slid 4.5% and Tokyo Electron lost 2.6%.

The pressure on chip and AI-related shares traces back to an essay published Saturday by Anthropic Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei, who called on the artificial intelligence industry to slow the pace at which it develops increasingly capable AI models. "We........

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