Japanese Shares Fall on AI Concerns

The Nikkei 225 Index fell 1.7% to below 63,000 on Monday, hitting a six-week low and tracking declines in US stock futures amid rising concerns over the safety of artificial intelligence development. On Saturday, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called on AI companies to slow the development of their most advanced models due to safety risks, while pledging to introduce additional safeguards at the company. Investors also faced surging oil prices after Saudi Arabia shut down the critical East-West pipeline, which provides an alternative route to the Strait of Hormuz. Higher energy prices strengthened expectations for tighter monetary policy, with both the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan expected to raise interest rates this week. Tech and AI-related stocks led the losses, with Kioxia Holdings (-8.6%), SoftBank Group (-12%), Advantest (-4.5%), Taiyo Yuden (-8.3%) and Tokyo Electron (-2.6%) posting sharp declines.