Rethinking: Nikkei Average Fell After The Disaster

Nikkei Average fell after Japan was hit by Earthquake + Tsunami on 11th March 2011.

Here is the Nikkei Average Price:

Picture 1. Nikkei Average Price from 8 - 16 March 2011

As you can see in the graph above, on 15 March 2011 (just two days after the earthquake), Nikkei was at the lowest since almost 2 years ago.

Source: WSJ Asia

Nikkei (or Nikkei Index or Nikkei 225) is weighted average price of 225 stocks (225 companies) in Tokyo Stock Exchange. So, when Nikkei goes down, it means that MORE share price of the companies which are the components of the index go down, not ALL shares. Thus, the shares that currently you hold may not change or go in the same direction with Nikkei.