We had two distinct parts of the session. The indices followed through to the downside this morning from the get-go, dropping early in the morning and then snapping back but failing to take out the highs. When that occurred, they made lower lows, reaching the lows for the day on the Nasdaq 100 mid-morning. They bounced around, backed and filled and narrowed into early afternoon, with the S&P making nominal new lows. The NDX did not confirm that. When that occurred they rallied in the afternoon in a three-wave rally that closed near the highs for the session, but near the zero line on most of the indices.

Net on the day, even though the Dow was down 40, the S&P 500 was down just 0.41, and the NDX down only 1 point. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was down 0.05, nearly unchanged.

The technicals, however, were positive by a little less than 3 to 2 on advance-declines on both exchanges. Up/down volume was 7 to 5 positive on New York, with a total of 1 1/4 million traded, and less than 2 to 1 positive on Nasdaq, on a total of about 1 3/4 billion traded.

The stars of the day today were mostly Chinese stocks, led by far today by last evening's Chart of the Day, China Natural Resources (CHNR), which opened strong, ran hard in the morning, consolidated mid-day and then exploded in the afternoon again, and closed up nearly 12 today on 3 1/2 million shares, a huge percentage gain of 74% today.

Other Chinese stocks of note, China Technology Development (CTDC) closed near 10, up 3.10. e-Future Information Technologies (EFUT) closed up 2.65 to 19. China Finance Online (JRJC) at 43 1/2 was up 6.22. Kongzhong Corp. (KONG) at 7.91 was up 1.06 on 13 1/3 million. Aluminum Corp. of China (ACH) gained 2.04 today to a new all-time high.

Other stocks of note, shipping stock Excel Maritime (EXM) was up 1.96, DryShips (DRYS) up 2.42, and VMware (VMW) to a new all-time high, more than triple its IPO price of less than 2 months ago, was up 3.80 to 92.42.

Solar energy play JA Solar (JASO) was up 1.14. Portfolio position Eschelon Corp. (ELON) snapped back 87 cents. Cree Inc. (CREE), also a portfolio position, gained 65 cents. Cepheid (CPHD) was up 21 cents and Nuance Communications (NUAN) up 20 cents, and another highlight today was Taser (TASR), which passed 17 for the first in a couple months, closing at 16.97, up 77 cents on 3 1/3 million. That one broke out across key resistance.

On the downside, there were no point-plus losers. Fractional losses across the board included Global Solutions (GSOL), down 61 cents, China Precision Steel (CPSL) down 66 cents, Ascent Solar (ASTI) down 55 cents, and Chindex (CHDX) 44 cents.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices backed off but held key initial support at the rising moving averages on the hourly charts, and had a corrective look to them when the afternoon rally ensued, bringing them back up near their rally highs.

We'll see if we can get a follow-through tomorrow, but so far the market is still acting bullishly, and has not rolled over or taken out any significant price, trendline or moving average support yet.

Harry Boxer is a technical consultant to many Wall Street hedge funds and large institutional traders, and author of TheTechTrader.com, a real-time diary of his day, swing and intermediate-term trades. For more of Harry Boxer, sign up for a free 15-day trial to his Real-Time Technical Trading Diary, or sign up for a free 30-day trial to his Top Charts of the Week service.