Nikkei 225 · August 20, 1971

One up-day inside the Nixon Shock

+4.28%

single-day change vs previous close

Part of a longer stretch

The Nixon shock

midway through · 1971-08-13 → 1971-08-24, -20.71% over the whole period

What happened that day?

20 August 1971 — the Nikkei 225 rose 4.28%. No single cause for that one day could be pinned down
The four sessions before it were the story. From 16 August to 19 August the index fell every day
It started with Washington on 15 August: the dollar would no longer be convertible into gold, and imports would carry an extra charge
Japan had grown on exports under a fixed rate of 360 yen to the dollar. That premise cracked overnight
The Bank of Japan bought dollars on a huge scale over two days to hold the 360 line. While the rate held, stocks got a breather
The bounce lasted exactly one day. The next session gave it back and more
From the 13 August high to the 24 August low the index fell 20.71%

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.