Japan's Nikkei 225 index improved on the old record set before the country's assets collapsed in the early 1990s. At 12:31 p.m., the Nikkei was at 39,007.79, surpassing the record of 38,957.44 set on Dec. 29, 1989.
Japanese asset prices exploded in the 1980s, with property prices in Tokyo hundreds of times higher than in Manhattan and golf club memberships costing millions of dollars.
But there was a crash in the early 1990s when investors panicked after the Nikkei collapsed by roughly half in 1990 and real estate prices fell even further. This marked the beginning of Japan's 'lost decades' of economic stagnation, deflation and rising government debt. In recent months, like other markets around the world, the Nikkei has posted strong gains and has been boosted by the formidable performance of US chipmaker Nvidia. /BGNES
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