rather than pick out individual stocks to trade, it can often be worthwhile to trade the indices themselves, especially in times of high volatility.

for those so inclined, i attach below charts for FTSE and FTSE 250, though one might equally be tempted to trade Dow or S&P, which is significantly broader in its coverage, or even NASDAQ

for ease of reading, i have attached 1 year and 3 month charts in each instance

LONDON, April 30 (Reuters) - Nickel prices rose on Wednesday, posting their biggest monthly gain in 19 months, on tight supplies from Indonesia and concern over sanctions on top refined producer Russia. Other metals, including copper, slipped after disappointing data showed the U.S. economy barely grew in the first quarter as exports tumbled. ID:nLNSUFEAFV Business tailed off as traders squared up ahead of market holidays in Shanghai on Thursday and Friday and in London on Monday. Three-month nickel CMNI3 on the London Metal Exchange (LME) closed up 0.96 percent at $18,325 a tonne. It is up nearly 15 percent this month, in the fifth consecutive month of gains. Prices are trading more than 30 percent higher in the year to date. An Indonesian ban on exports of unprocessed ore from January tightened supplies of nickel ore, which top buyer China uses to produce nickel pig iron for stainless steel. This could force mills to increase use of higher-grade refined metal. "It is probably going to take some time before Indonesia is able to turn its ore into refined nickel to export," said Caroline Bain, senior commodities economist at Capital Economics. "From the current price level I do feel it is overdone and we could see prices dropping back but I expect it to strengthen again going into next year as stocks would have been depleted by then." Sanctions on Russia over its actions in Ukraine have fuelled concerns that exports of top refined producer Norilsk Nickel GMKN.MM could be hit. Norilsk and top Russian aluminium producer UC Rusal 0486.HK , however, are not among the 17 companies that the United States sanctioned this week. There were some signs that nickel's rally may be cooling, given prices failed to react to a 5.2 percent drop in Norilsk's first-quarter production, broker Triland said. ID:nL6N0NL2IX "The fact that the nickel price is closing mostly unchanged on the day is probably a sign that the market is tired and still due a downward correction," it said in a note late on Tuesday. COPPER SLIPS Copper, aluminium and other metals trended lower after U.S. first quarter GDP rose at an annual rate of 0.1 percent, the slowest since the fourth quarter of 2012 and compared to expectations of 1.2 percent. LME copper CMCU3 dropped 1.04 percent to close at $6,645 a tonne. Prices are flat for the month, giving up gains after having hit $6,798, the highest since March 7, in the previous session. A crackdown on credit in China has curbed the ability of traders and manufacturers to finance copper imports, squeezing domestic supply and helping driving domestic premiums to the highest in almost three years. Aluminium CMAL3 shed 0.77 percent to finish at $1,800 a tonne. Michael Widmer, metals strategist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said the world ex-China had moved into a market deficit, mainly due to a revival of global growth, but also due to increased use in vehicles. "We believe aluminium usage is also increasingly supported by structural industry changes, including tighter emission standards," he said in note. "We estimate that the auto industry could boost aluminium offtake globally by around 2.5 million tonnes over the coming 2.5 years." Zinc CMZN3 ended down 0.68 percent at $2,041 a tonne, lead MPB3 lost 0.19 percent to close at $2,106 and tin CMSN3 dropped 1.06 percent to $22,950.

and if not, on the other side of your face?

Well, I might have to settle for the Bentley after all...

you'ld love it and you should be able to buy one at relatively cheap price

My cable long worked out nice. It's all yours now Shortie.

Hope so, running 3 plays on Cable now and have only taken a small profit dabbling..

I'm amazed at the FTSE right now being so high, not sure I fully believe the data although the zero hours contract report made alot of sense.

Paxman's most memorable Newsnight encounters

There's a bit of currency chatter on this thread, so...

I don't know if it'll be of interest to any of you, but we ran an analysis of our top 50 traders (in terms of units bc traded) recently and were a little surprised to see that many of them were trading GBPAUD. It's not a cross that I'd ever looked at previously, but, having looked at it, it has a tendency to trend well across several timeframes with signals that have been pretty easy to follow, and I can see why it's attracted a bit of a following.

What about the most profitable pairs Hils? Same there?

I must admit I've started to look at some different pairs recently but not many.

I don't have access to that data for every client, Floss. But, for those I do, the two datasets do tend to operate in tandem.

Cheers Hils - just looking at that combo now.

What sort of spread do you get on GBP AUD? I'm still using s/b mostly which tend to have stupid spreads on some combinations.

Seymour - IG currently have 8 - 18139.9/18147.9

Thanks Skinny. 8 pip spread with IG, it's currently 4 pips with CMC, which I think is robbery!

Don't start Hils.......

Average is 0.6 pip at IC Markets & AxiTrader, Floss, but it's variable (between touch and about 1.2). Plus $7 commission per rtl. LMAX Exchange is best if they'll let you in.

Thanks - doubt they'll have me Hils.

Well ICM and Axi will definitely take you, Floss. It's just LMAX who don't want retail punters any more because they're a customer service nightmare, so deposit $50k and promise you won't complain and they'll be fine. :o)

Regardless, you shouldn't be charged any more than 3 pips with a fixed spread micro account on the GBPAUD cross.

I'm hoping that the GBP/USD May sell-off continues this year.

It's testing the 2009 highs atm, shortie. If it can get up to $1.70, there's not much resistance in the way for a further 16 or 17 cents.