** Australia's energy stocks sub-index .AXEJ lost 1.5%, its lowest level since Jan. 2, hit by lower oil prices

** Global oil prices weakened with news surging interest in Chinese startup DeepSeek's low-cost artificial intelligence $(AI)$ model prompted concerns over energy demand to power data centers O/R

** AXEJ fell as much as 1.9% earlier in the day, marking its worst intraday drop since Dec. 19

** Sector majors such as Woodside Energy WDS.AX shed 0.2% while smaller peer Santos STO.AX lost 0.4%

** AXEJ up nearly 1.6% YTD including day's moves

(Reporting by Rajasik Mukherjee in Bengaluru)

((Rajasik.Mukherjee@thomsonreuters.com))