Nikkei 225 · April 16, 1973

The spring Japan started raising rates

-4.14%

single-day change vs previous close

Part of a longer stretch

The oil shock in Japan

early in it · 1973-01-24 → 1974-10-09, -37.40% over the whole period

What happened that day?

16 April 1973 — the Nikkei 225 fell 4.14%. No single cause for that one day could be pinned down
It was the third down-day in a row, well below the January high already
In February Japan had given up its fixed exchange rate and let the yen float. A rising yen shrinks the profits exporters earn
Prices were climbing fast at the same time. To stop that, the Bank of Japan began raising rates that spring
Higher rates pull money out of stocks. Currency and rates pressed the market from the same side
From the late-January high to the late-April low the index fell 18.38%
The oil crisis arrived that autumn and the decline went far deeper

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.