What Is the Nikkei Index?

The Nikkei Index, more formally known as the Nikkei 225, is a daily stock market index for the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) of 225 top-rated Japanese companies. It is designed to reflect the performance of the overall market with no industry receiving more weight than another.

History

Calculation of the Nikkei 225 began on September 7, 1950 with retroactive data from May 16, 1949. In 1971 the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) newspaper took over calculating the index. From 1975 to 1985 the Nikkei 225 was referred to as the "Nikkei Dow Jones Stock Average."

Peak

The Nikkei 225 peaked on December 29, 1989 at 38,915.87 points.

Changes

Yearly changes to the Nikkei 225 are announced in September. Any required stock changes are made at the beginning of October. However, if a stock is delisted or is found to be ineligible for any other reason, a change can be made at any time during the year.

Nikkei 225 Stocks

An up-to-date list of Nikkei 225 stocks and their industries can be found at Nikkei.com.

Importance to the Global Economy

The Nikkei 225 is highly regarded and considered to be the top benchmark for measuring the health of the Asian economy.

References

• Nikkei 225 Information Page
• History of the Nikkei Indexes

Resources

• List of Nikkei 225 Stocks