Afternoon trading May 15

Thanks @shovel40, @paddington bear, @Fiji1 and morning crew.

The market's sideways drift continues into a new week. Remember volatility? That's evaporated at an index level. The XJO's intraday trading range has been about 25-35 points for a week. The index dipped 0.21% this morning.

A mixed market once again, with gains in resource stocks, utilities and REITS outweighed by two of the five largest banks trading ex-dividend.

The spec end of the market was notably weak. The Emerging Companies Index sagged 1.56%.

Personal trading: Busy morning. Traded ADT twice, plus CXL and SGA (part-fill). Took BHP too early. Been testing a new buy trigger and ignored what with hindsight was an obvious red flag. Lesson learned.