The Nikkei 225 reached its all-time closing high of 38,915.87 on December 29, 1989, just before Japan’s stock-market crash.
The index had risen dramatically during Japan’s late-1980s asset-price bubble. Easy credit, strong speculation, and rapidly rising land and share prices pushed valuations to exceptional levels. After monetary policy tightened, both equities and property prices began falling, starting a long period of economic stagnation often called Japan’s Lost Decades.
The Nikkei 225 is a price-weighted index of 225 major companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Prime Market. Its 1989 peak is often confused with an intraday high: the index reached 38,957.44 during trading on December 29, while its official closing record was slightly lower.