What date marked the peak of Japan’s Nikkei 225 before the country’s early-1990s stock-market crash?

Japan’s Nikkei 225 peaked on December 29, 1989, immediately before the country’s early-1990s stock-market crash. The index reached an intraday high of 38,957.44 and closed at 38,915.87 on that final trading day of the decade.

The peak came after a spectacular rise in Japanese asset prices. Easy credit, low interest rates, strong optimism, and rapid financial expansion pushed both equities and urban land to extreme valuations. When monetary policy tightened and confidence reversed, share prices began a prolonged decline.

The Nikkei’s fall became a central part of Japan’s “Lost Decades,” although the causes and economic effects extended beyond the stock market. The 1989 peak is sometimes confused with later recovery milestones; it remained below that closing level for decades before finally surpassing it in 2024.