Nikkei 225 Tipped to Rise Amid BOJ Rate Hike Expectations

The Nikkei 225 index has been experiencing significant fluctuations in recent times. On September 10, 2026, it traded near 64,907 JPY, within a session's range of 64,155-65,697 JPY. This comes ahead of the Bank of Japan's policy meeting on September 17-18, where a rate rise to 1.25% is expected by 97% of economists polled by Reuters.

The 10-year Japanese government bond yield has reached around 2.93%, while Brent crude traded above $101 a barrel amid escalating attacks on shipping in the Middle East. This adds to inflation concerns and could weigh on the index, especially if corporate earnings decline or valuations decrease due to higher bond yields.

Third-party forecasts for the Nikkei 225 vary considerably by method and horizon. Nomura projects the index at 70,000 JPY by the end of 2026, while QUICK's monthly survey puts it at 71,704 JPY over the next year. Wallet Investor's machine-learning model, however, predicts a September 2026 range of 64,959.20-66,835.97 JPY.