Indian shares poised for lower open as Middle East tensions spike oil prices

As conflict reshapes the arteries of global energy trade, India finds itself at a familiar crossroads — where distant geopolitical tremors arrive swiftly at the doorstep of domestic prosperity. Attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz have sent oil prices surging toward $100 a barrel, unsettling markets that had been quietly hoping for relief in the form of lower interest rates. For a nation as deeply tethered to imported energy as India, the question is not merely one of market indices, but of how long ordinary citizens and businesses can absorb the weight of a conflict they did not choose.