Nikkei 225 · October 7, 2002

The autumn the bank plan was in doubt

-3.76%

single-day change vs previous close

Part of a longer stretch

The twenty-year low

midway through · 2002-05-23 → 2003-04-28, -36.49% over the whole period

What happened that day?

7 October 2002 — the Nikkei 225 fell 3.76%. No single cause for that one day could be pinned down
That autumn the biggest question in Japan was how the banks' bad loans would be dealt with. Write them off strictly and bank shares get cut; delay and the problem stays
A new minister had been appointed for financial affairs and a hard line was expected. Bank stocks moved hardest
In America at the same time, accounting fraud and the prospect of war were pushing prices down
From the June high to the November low the index fell 27.48%
That episode low was around the lowest level since the bubble burst. Recovery took several more years

Sources

Every figure on this page is recomputed from the original daily closing prices and checked against them at build time. The account of what happened is put together from the public record; where a specific source was consulted it is listed above.