Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 36.7 points, or 0.42%, to 8,771.8 by midday Tuesday, extending a cautious start to the trading week as a sharp spike in oil prices and renewed geopolitical tensions in the Middle East weighed on investor sentiment across the region.

The pullback followed a subdued open, with the index having been expected to start the session roughly 8 points, or 0.1%, lower based on overnight SPI futures, following a weak session on Wall Street. The move deepened as the morning progressed, driven primarily by a dramatic overnight surge in crude oil prices tied to escalating conflict between the United States and Iran. Brent crude jumped as much as 10.76% to around $83.31 a barrel overnight, a one-day move comparable in scale to the roughly 10.71% spike recorded during an earlier flare-up in the conflict, after President Donald Trump declared the United States would act as the "guardian" of the Strait of Hormuz and confirmed that U.S. forces would resume blockading traffic to and from Iranian ports beginning at 4 p.m. New York time on July 14.

The renewed spike in energy prices came on top of an already difficult run for Australian equities. Monday's session saw the ASX 200 fight to finish in positive territory despite the ongoing volatility, following a stretch in which the index had snapped a four-session losing streak Friday, closing up 44 points, or 0.5%, at 8,806, driven by gains across mining, financial and industrial stocks as iron ore and copper prices strengthened. That recovery proved short-lived once fresh tensions in........

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