Nikkei 225 Index
The Nikkei 225 is the leading index for the Tokyo stockmarket. It was formerly known as the Nikkei-Dow index.
The Nikkei 225 is published by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper and like the Dow-Jones Industrial Average, on which it was modelled, it is a price-weighted index. So, a move in the share price of a small company may have as great an influence on the day's price movements as a comparable move in the price of a large one. This factor is heightened, in the case of the Nikkei, by the presence in the index of a number of old-line manufacturing firms, which are now much less important than they used to be.
From time to time, the authorities in Tokyo attempt to shift the market's attention away from the Nikkei 225 towards broader, more modern indices, such as the TOPIX and the Nikkei 350. So far, however, this has proved unsuccessful.
The record all time high for the 'Nikkei' is 38,915 reached on December 29th, 1989.