Japan’s Nikkei 225 reached 38,957.44 before the 1990s market crash.
The index touched that record intraday level on December 29, 1989, at the height of Japan’s asset-price bubble. Easy credit, rising land values, strong corporate profits, and exuberant expectations had pushed Japanese shares to extraordinary valuations. The Bank of Japan then tightened monetary policy, and property and equity prices began to fall.
The Nikkei’s decline became part of Japan’s “Lost Decades,” a period marked by weak growth, deflationary pressure, banking problems, and repeated efforts to repair balance sheets. The 1989 high was not regained until 2024, more than three decades later. The record is sometimes confused with the index’s closing high: 38,915.87 was the closing level on December 29, while 38,957.44 was the intraday peak.