Big ex-dividend pay day on the FTSE100 today.

Today is a day when some of the big names of the FTSE100 will be going ex-dividend and therefore it is possible that there will be some adjustment down in their share price.  It is always worth watching out for such moves because often just prior to a dividend payout the share price of a company may well have been rising, a case of good news already being priced in.  The dividend gets paid and the shares fall, sometimes not just by the amount equivalent to the paid out dividend.  This can lead to a buying opportunity.

Once the dust settles on such down moves it will often give a trader the chance to get back in as the price will often re-adjust back up, which is exactly what happened to Vodafone recently after their dividend and special dividend payment. For longer term investors, it also gives a chance to buy more at a lower price, assuming you like the fundamentals and nothing has changed as to why you hold the stock.



Going ex-dividend today are; BT, BP, Barclays, AstraZeneca, Glaxo, Standard Chartered, and Royal Dutch Shell.

After Standard Chartered's big fall yesterday, the share price is mounting a recovery so far today.  Is the bank now in bargain territory?  It has often been seen as one of the "safer" banking stocks, alongside HSBC because of its exposure to the more booming economies of the far east and Asia, but while the US are carrying out investigations on past practices investors can probably expect a bumpy ride, especially if fears remain over losing their banking license.

The threat by a New York regulator to suspend Standard Chartered Plc’s (STAN) banking license is stoking investor and analyst concern the business model that produced eight straight years of record profit is in jeopardy. 

New York State’s Department of Financial Services this week said the London-based lender conducted $250 billion of deals with Iranian banks over seven years and processed transactions for institutions subject to U.S. economic sanctions, prompting the watchdog to threaten to withdraw the firm’s license in the state. The shares have slumped 22 percent in London since the Aug. 6 order, erasing 8 billion pounds ($12.5 billion) of market value. 

“If a global bank loses its U.S. presence, that’s quite hobbling in terms of conducting international dollar transactions,” said Serena Moe, a former U.S. Treasury Department deputy chief counsel and Citigroup Inc. lawyer who’s now at law firm Wiley Rein LLP in Washington. 

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-08-07/standard-chartered-s-new-york-license-threat-unnerves-investors

I doubt it will go to the extreme of losing their license as some compromise will happen, but until things settle it's a risky buy as we could see more volatility in the share price depending on newsflow.