Week in Review: Oil Shock Reversal, Korean Markets in Motion, and India's Earnings Season Begins

Week in Review — August 3, 2026

• Trump's Iran strike reversal sent oil prices sharply lower, unwinding July's geopolitical risk premium in a single session
• The Korean won posted its biggest monthly gain since the 2008 financial crisis while retail investors absorbed ₩50 trillion in US market losses
• India enters peak Q1 earnings season with 573 companies reporting, led by Infosys and Bajaj Auto

The defining market story of the week was a single geopolitical pivot: President Trump's signal that the United States was willing to cancel its planned Iran strikes in exchange for a rapid nuclear deal. Oil markets, which had spent much of July pricing in a conflict premium, reversed sharply. Brent fell through $84 before stabilizing, compressing a risk premium that had briefly pushed crude toward multi-month highs. For energy-importing economies across Asia and Europe, the reversal arrived as a welcome macro tailwind — reducing inflationary pressure on central banks and improving terms of trade for major importers including India, Japan, South Korea, and Germany.

Korea dominated the currency and equity headlines throughout the week. The won's 8.8% July appreciation — the currency's best month since the 2008 global financial crisis — collided with a sobering reality for Korean retail investors, who absorbed an estimated ₩50 trillion in evaluation losses from their US equity positions as the semiconductor sector corrected. Meanwhile, South Korea's five largest banks recorded their biggest monthly mortgage surge in 11 months, raising fresh concerns about household leverage just as equity market volatility peaks. The convergence of won strength, equity losses, and credit expansion creates a complex risk picture for Korean financial regulators heading into August.

India enters the week with the calendar's most concentrated earnings event: 573 listed companies — including Infosys, Bajaj Auto, and Eternal — scheduled to report Q1 FY2027 results. The IT sector's margin guidance from Infosys will be the most closely watched single data point, given its implications for the broader technology services sector and the flow of US enterprise spending into Indian outsourcing contracts. Nifty and Sensex closed the prior session with gains, with analysts citing crude oil direction and FII flow dynamics as the key variables determining whether momentum extends or consolidates through August.

Weekly editorial synthesis from market.news Fire 5 coverage.