Nikkei 225 · April 1, 1992
The day the fiscal year turned
-3.95%
single-day change vs previous close
Part of a longer stretch
When the bad loans surfaced
near the end of it · 1991-03-18 → 1992-08-18, -47.29% over the whole period
What happened that day?
- On 1 April 1992 the Nikkei 225 fell 3.95%, the first day of Japan's fiscal year
- Japanese companies and banks close their books at the end of March, and until then there is pressure to hold prices up
- The value of the shares they own is booked at the closing price on that date
- Once the date passes, that support disappears. It is why large falls cluster in early April
- No single trigger can be pinned to this day
- In this stretch the index was 37.72% below its peak
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 written from the sources listed above.