On what date did Japan’s Nikkei 225 reach its peak before the early-1990s market crash?

Japan’s Nikkei 225 reached its peak before the early-1990s market crash on December 29, 1989.

The index closed at 38,915.87, its record closing level for decades. The peak came during Japan’s asset-price bubble, when shares and urban land had become extraordinarily expensive relative to underlying economic measures.

The bubble burst after monetary tightening and changing financial conditions. Japanese share prices fell steeply in the early 1990s, while property values also declined. The resulting weakness contributed to a prolonged period of slow growth, banking stress, and deflation often called Japan’s “Lost Decades.”

The Nikkei’s 1989 peak is sometimes compared directly with later global crashes, but Japan’s episode was unusually long-lasting. The index did not regain its 1989 closing record until 2024, when it finally exceeded that historic level.