Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 14.9% on Black Monday, October 20, 1987.
The 1987 crash was global rather than confined to New York. After the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 22.6% on October 19, Asian and European markets reacted during their next trading sessions. Tokyo’s Nikkei suffered one of the most severe single-day declines in its history.
The shock reflected the growing connections among international exchanges, institutional investors, currencies, and automated trading systems. Investors could respond to losses in one market by selling assets in another, creating rapid cross-border pressure.
The Nikkei 225 tracks 225 prominent companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. It differs from the broader TOPIX index, which covers a wider portion of the Japanese market. The 14.9% figure refers specifically to the Nikkei’s October 20 close-to-close decline.