Nikkei 225 (JP225) perpetual market

The Nikkei 225 is Japan's premier stock market index and the most cited barometer of Japanese equities, tracking 225 large companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Compiled since 1950 and published by the Nikkei newspaper, it is unusual in being price-weighted, like the Dow Jones Industrial Average, so higher-priced shares carry more influence regardless of company size. The index spans Japan's major exporters, industrials, technology and consumer names, making it sensitive to global demand and to the level of the yen, since a weaker yen tends to lift the earnings of its many export-oriented members. The Nikkei is famous for its dramatic history: it peaked near the end of Japan's 1980s asset bubble and then spent more than three decades below that high before finally surpassing it in 2024. It remains the headline gauge of the world's third- or fourth-largest economy.