Japan's Nikkei 225 closed at 38,915.87 at its asset-bubble peak on December 29, 1989.
The Nikkei's record close came after years of rapidly rising Japanese share and property prices. Easy credit, optimistic expectations, and strong corporate and banking activity helped push asset valuations to extraordinary levels. The index's 1989 peak became a landmark often used to date the end of Japan's bubble era.
After the Bank of Japan tightened policy, asset prices began to fall. The Nikkei then entered a prolonged decline, while banks and companies were left with large quantities of impaired loans and overvalued collateral. Japan's subsequent economic stagnation is frequently associated with this post-bubble adjustment.
The peak is sometimes confused with the Nikkei's intraday record, which was set on the same day at a slightly higher level. The closing figure, rather than the intraday high, is the standard statistic quoted for the 1989 record.