The mechanics of div ex date

[fausTVR]

There is a glaring hole in my knowledge regarding the earliest point at which one can sell a share holding and still qualify for the dividend.

My understanding is that if you already hold the share on div ex date then you will receive the div, but the record date looks back to the day before div ex date, so if I sell at any point on that pre div ex date, for example just before the bell, I don't qualify for the dividend.
So if the record shows I hold x amount of shares at close of play on the day before div ex day, I qualify with that amount?

Do I have it wrong?

[Jon39]

A purchaser at any time during the first ex-dividend day will not receive the next dividend.
Of course they will pay a trading price, which has been reduced by the amount of that dividend.
Sellers during the ex-dividend period will obviously sell at the lower prices, but will be receiving the dividend payment.

Although the share price will have that technical reduction, at the start of the first ex-dividend trading day, ordinary market fluctuations sometimes mean that the price goes back up above the original level during the ex-dividend period. As I always say, you just cannot tell what is going to happen, with short-term share prices.

[fausTVR]

Thanks for the reply jon39. I thought I would try a bit of dividend capture but it's a bit of a tight rope situation isn't it?

I've bought back into IGG having had good results previously with it, with a view to nabbing the final div of 22.88p, but today the price plummeted even though div ex day is not until tomorrow.