On what date did Japan’s Nikkei 225 reach its record closing high before the 1990s market collapse?

Japan’s Nikkei 225 reached its record closing high before the 1990s market collapse on December 29, 1989.

The index closed at 38,915.87 on that date, marking the peak of Japan’s late-1980s asset-price bubble. The boom was associated with soaring land and share prices, abundant credit, and expectations that Japanese corporations and property would continue gaining value.

After the peak, Japanese share prices fell heavily. The Bank of Japan had tightened monetary policy, and the broader bubble economy began to unwind. The decline in equities and real estate damaged banks, companies, and household balance sheets, contributing to a prolonged period of weak growth often called Japan’s Lost Decades.

A frequent mix-up is confusing the closing record with an intraday record. The December 29 figure is the Nikkei 225’s record closing level; the index’s highest intraday level came on the next trading session, December 29 is nevertheless the key date for the closing-high statistic.