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

I've just bought NG. @876.50 for the 27.54p dividend tomorrow - I may regret the move, but they have fallen 20p (2.2%) today.

Same here

Well we both might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb!

I meant same here to Cynic's post Skinny... I'll absorb the FTSE divi tonight as already taken profits in excess of it.

So just me then to hanged for a sheep as a lamb!!

"The boy stood on the burning deck
Whence all but he had fled;
The flame that lit the battle's wreck
Shone round him o'er the dead.
Yet beautiful and bright he stood,
As born to rule the storm;
A creature of heroic blood,
A proud, though child-like form."

That chart looks very familiar Skinny, I make it 6740 for a downside break otherwse it'll maintain bullish sentiment. It gets very nervous on any run up to 6900 though, what do you think, testing 6800 support right now?

Sorry Shortie - just seen your post.

Yes 6,807.82 stamped earlier.

I agree, although I've missed quite a few opportunities recently.

I still have the short (my top yellow line) in place, but haven't traded it today as yet.

A bit miffed with NG. - especially as I have a reasonable share holding.

NG.
bloody hell; that's been a stinker for you chaps notwithstanding there's a 27.5p divi in today's dump .... no logic i take it; just that the MMs saw you buying i dare say

Oh dear, just had a look at NG. Was looking rather overbought.

The ADRs are faring slightly better.

http://www.mideasttime.com/national-grid-plc-stock-rating-reaffirmed-by-jpmorgan-chase-co-ngg/153256/

6,800 looking tenuous.



Shortie - I posted that and another link on the NG. thread earlier.

Yes sorry, just had a smooze on the thread and saw it... 790p maybe for NG??

It looks very possible - similar pattern at the time of the dividend last year and only really lost about 5 weeks of rise.

I think the fall is due to the 18% fall in earnings, current divi is some 42p in total so at 832p a share the 42p divi works out at 5.04% yield. This is respectable, if however the fall in earnings gets translated to the divi we'll see a future divi of 34.4p which at 832p a share is a yield of 4.13%. Of course now that OFGEM has also stuck it's ore in and moved the divi 8% growth figure to that of RPI 3% the investment is far less attractive. Just for reference, if the divi gets stripped back 10% to 37.8p and the sp falls to 790p the yield will be 4.784% as it was recently at a sp of 878p and a divi of 42p....



LONDON, June 4 (Reuters) - British spot and forward prices for wholesale natural gas fell to multi-year lows on Wednesday as oversupply combined with weak spring demand. British gas for delivery next winter traded at 59.40 pence per therm in the afternoon, its lowest level since at least the third quarter of 2011, while day-ahead spot gas prices dropped close to four-year lows at 41.50 pence per therm. "The gas market is completely oversupplied. There's a lot of gas in storage, a lot of gas in pipelines, a lot of LNG tankers have been coming in and demand is very low because of mild weather, so that's putting a lot of downward pressure on the market," one gas trader said. "If it hadn't been for the slightly firmer oil market, we'd have seen gas prices fall further still," he added. Brent crude rose further above $109 a barrel on Wednesday and U.S. crude jumped by $1 following a sharper-than-expected drop in U.S. oil inventories.

LONDON/PARIS, June 4 (Reuters) - European shares inched down on Wednesday after data confirmed a slowdown in the euro zone's economic recovery in the first quarter, with investors awaiting fresh action by the European Central Bank to spur growth. The 18-nation bloc's economy expanded by just 0.2 percent in the three months to March, statistics office Eurostat said, cementing investor expectations for the ECB to trim its refinancing rate, send its deposit rate into negative territory and launch a cheap-lending initiative targeted at businesses. The FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index of top European shares was down 0.1 percent at 1,372.67 points as of 1007 GMT, hovering below a 6-1/2-year high hit on Monday. "No-one's really eager to make any aggressive moves ahead of tomorrow," said CMC Markets analyst Jasper Lawler. "It seems unlikely the ECB would disappoint in terms of action...(But) the real crunch is going to be what the ECB guides for the next meeting and beyond." The market's pause for breath saw national benchmark indexes in France, Britain, Italy and Spain fall between 0.1 and 0.4 percent, while Germany's DAX index stayed flat. Euro zone peripheral markets have been rallying on hopes of further measures from the ECB, with Milan's FTSE MIB index .FTMIB up 14 percent for the year-to-date and Madrid's IBEX .IBEX up 9 percent. Shares of Spanish oil-and-gas company Repsol REP.MC fell 3.6 percent, one of the worst performers on the FTSEurofirst 300, after Mexico's Pemex PEMX.UL sold the bulk of its stake in Repsol for 2.09 billion euros ($2.85 billion). ID:nL6N0OL1O6 Construction companies Holcim HOLN.VX and Lafarge LAFP.PA rallied more than 2.7 percent after a report said that private-equity companies were considering bids for some assets as part of the companies' planned merger. ID:nL6N0OL2OJ Hopes for ECB intervention have supported share prices in recent months, often leading to a bullish investor response to weak data, although some traders said there was a growing risk of a pullback after the central bank's meeting on Thursday. "There's a real danger the ECB has created a rod for its own back (with expectations)," said Nick Beecroft, analyst at Saxo Bank. "The risk is that if some of the expected measures are announced but not all of them, that the market strengthens the euro and tries to force the ECB into more action." Shares in Tesco TSCO.L fell 1.5 percent after Britain's biggest retailer posted its worst quarterly UK sales drop in 40 years on Wednesday, ratcheting up the pressure on boss Phil Clarke to show his turnaround plan can counter the challenges of the grocery industry.

Yesterday's purchase aside, I've held/traded NG. since they floated - mainly for their yield.

They were also one of the most profitable rights issue results back in @2010.