Gov't may seek additional steps to stem diving share prices after Nikkei closes at 26-year low

Monday 09th March, 08:33 PM JST

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herefornow at 06:23 PM JST - 9th March

bamboohat -- agree completely. However, when was the last time this country did "some serious thinking...as a nation"? I've seen no evidence of it, and no capability of doing so.
rajakumar at 08:18 PM JST - 9th March

If 5000 pts,is the lowest point to rise back again,I say let it hit that level faster.

The faster we let it go down,the faster Nikkei and other marts will make their gain rise again.
bobbafett at 09:35 PM JST - 9th March

Rajkumar,

amazingly the Nikkei was worth 44,000 points a few years back. It has been dying a rather fast death since. I wonder where it will finally come to rest?
Goals0 at 10:26 PM JST - 9th March

Q. What was the Nikkei 225's peak?

A. The average peaked at 38,915.87 points on December 29, 1989.
some14some at 10:37 PM JST - 9th March

Gov't may seek additional measures...means pension funds gone and more suicides to follow.
Ah_so at 10:53 PM JST - 9th March

Why invest in Japanese equities? They yield little no dividends, so seem pretty pointless as an investment. P/E ratios are generally at about 20, even higher than the over-priced Dow, with even less reason to be.

The only argument in their favour in recent years is that they are trading below book value. All well and good, but there is no way to unlock the book value.

Japanese equities are not something to "invest" in in the truest sense of the word. They are only something to speculate on.
rajakumar at 12:17 AM JST - 10th March

From 1989, Nikkei has risen 38,916 pts to may fall 5000 pts in 2009.

Do not worry,actually all money is still around nobody want to put in Stockmarts,for fear of loss. When there is no possibility of further loss,money will start trickling in.

Market lows at 5000 pts,does not mean death. Investors are still there with billions,the smarter ones.

They will come back,when nikkei goes to its lowest level and will not go lower. Same scenario in USA. This is the hard tactics of investors,there is no mercy.

Only profits and rises in sales,has mercy of billion dollars funds. They have sent many nations to IMF. In 1997,they sent thailand,south korea and Indonesia to IMF.

Now they want to send USA,Japan and others to IMF. These guys has succeeded, and will gain,big profits later as they will buy companies at low costs with their stash.

Buy and sell,is the name of game,they the megabillion dollar funds, make the rules.

The name of game,is to buy up companies at low costs,at some point of time in future,when everyone does the bull run,after the big bear crushing run.
70x4060d at 03:56 AM JST - 10th March

The Nikkei should be under 2,000 by real value. It is still way overinflated, and we shorters are still making mad cash.

The government can do nothing aside from pass a law that says you may not sell a share for less than you bought it. This is a free market, and it is still nearly 60 times overvalued. We will continue to short out profits despite laws against it (brokers need money).
70x4060d at 05:41 AM JST - 10th March

But there hey guy, dude, the Nikkei there guy is still overvalued there guy.
herefornow at 05:56 AM JST - 10th March

70x4060d -- "brokers need money". Not an opinion shared by all. Me being one. Brokers, and their kissing cousins, traders, caused much of this financial meltdown via their unscrupulous chasing of money. Many of you folks were selling products you did not even understand -- and didn't care. Now, you are shorting the market. In effect hoping that honest people who put their savings into stocks lose their investments. You add no value, as evidenced by the fact that all the "profits" made by the securities companies over the past decade have all been wiped out in a matter of months. I don't know what you are so proud of.
medievaltimes at 09:21 AM JST - 10th March

herefornow - How are brokers and traders "unscrupulous" for chasing money? As long as no laws were broken it really can't be considered "unscrupulous" can it?

I agree that some of them "sell products you did not even understand-and didn't care". But that's just the nature of some salespeople and it's not isolated to just this field. Doesn't the buyer/customer have the ultimate responsibility to decide whether or not to buy/sell (or even invest their money in the first place)? If a customer blindly follows a broker whose fault is that? Also, there are laws put in place to protect the customer.

It's quite simple really. If the market is over-valued, it will correct itself in time. If the market is under-valued, it will correct itself in time. Of course some markets are more stable than others, some markets are more transparent than others, some markets pay better dividends than others etc etc etc. But it is the choice of the customer to decide if this is how they want to manage their money. To blame the brokers and traders for this financial meltdown isn't quite accurate.
Yelnats at 10:35 AM JST - 10th March

I loved it whenit was at almost ¥40,000. Real estate agents took me out wining and dining all over the place. Funny, I never see them any more.
GJDailleult at 11:57 AM JST - 10th March

herefornow - good posts. As for being "unscrupulous", setting yourself up as an "expert" and then charging people for your "expertise" when you don't actually know much of anything is pretty much the definition of unscrupulous. Their job was just to get meat to feed the machine. As for Japan, any intervention would be pointless and would just show a lack of understanding what the problem is. Stepping in front of the wealth destruction train isn't going to work.
bebert at 02:57 PM JST - 10th March

I doubt Japanese Electronics and Cars will or can be competitvely priced.

They don't have to be. People buy Japanese cars because their last American car blew its transmission at just 50,000 miles (and that was after a half dozen other "things gone wrong" such as window regulators burning out and dome lights falling out of the headliner).

Sony, on the other hand, might as well shut down and sell all its assets to the Chinese. What the hell happened to those guys?
Bento at 07:27 PM JST - 10th March

nikkei still 60 times over valued..cobblers mate..it may be overvalued but its nothing like that..the nikkei is still overvalued by western market measures,but it is not a western market..by historical standards it is looking at its best value in decades.However it may well sink lower in the short term.