The markets had a down day for the most part, other than the Nasdaq 100, but it sure felt a lot better than that, because many of the stocks we follow had a strong session, particularly in the Chinese sector, which mostly had an exceptional day today.

The day started out with some back and forth action on the Nasdaq 100, while the S&P 500 dropped early. They did rally mid-morning, reaching the morning highs just before lunch hour, and then they had a 3-wave decline into early afternoon that reached the session lows. At that point the S&P 500 tagged its 6-day rising trendline and also its 21-period moving average on the hourly charts, and the indexes started a strong rally which accelerated late in the afternoon. Although they did back off towards the end of the day, particularly on the S&P 500, they managed to stay positive on the Nasdaq 100, where the index gained 5 3/4. However, the Dow was down almost 86 points, and the S&P 500 about 2.68. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was off 2.86.

Advance-declines were negative, as was up/down volume on the NYSE. Advance-declines were about 17 to 15 negative on New York, where the ratio was 6 to 5 negative on declining over advancing volume. Total volume was a light 1.15 billion. Nasdaq, however, did manage to have about an 11 to 7 positive ratio on advancing volume over declining volume, but decliners still led advancers on Nasdaq by about 160 issues.

TheTechTrader.com board was mixed, but the gainers had a stellar day. VMware (VMW), which we've followed since its IPO a couple months ago at $29, exploded again for another 5.43 and closed over $107 today, a new post-IPO high.

China Natural Resources (CHNR) , which we featured as a Chart of the Day a couple weeks ago under 14, closed at 42 1/2, up 5.85 today, a sharp snapback from its recent pullback on profit-taking. Chinese agricultural company, Origin Agritech (SEED) jumped 5 today on 22 million shares, and was up 64% today and the #2 percent leader on Nasdaq.

Among other gainers, Global Solutions (GSOL), an old favorite of ours, originally highlighted in the high single digits, reached as high as 28 today, closing at 27.81, up 3 3/4. Chindex (CHDX) advanced 74 cents, and set a new all-time high earlier in the session, over 31 today.We first recommended that one near $8. Chinese dairy company, American Diary (ADY), closed at 23.94, up 1.46.

China Sun (CSUN) was up 1.61, and Shengda Tech (SDTH) closed at 8.37, up 1.65, or nearly 25% today.

Other significant gainers included Rediff.com India (REDF), which jumped 74 cents, and Nuance Communications (NUAN), up another 30 cents. China Precision Steel (CPSL) was up 64 cents, and Blue Phoenix (BPHX) up 39 cents.

On the downside, the only point-plus loser on our board was Eschelon Corp. (ELON), down 1.13. e-Future Information Technology (EFUT) lost 70 cents. In the shipping sector, Excel Maritime (EXM) lost 87 cents, but DryShips (DRYS) advanced 2.35, reaching as high as nearly 122 this morning. It's now up 100 points since early March.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were mixed in the morning, weak mid-day but came on strong in the afternoon. They still closed down on the day, except for the Nasdaq 100, which set new multi-year highs. The S&P 500 failed to confirm that late in the session and backed off, so we'll see if continued negative divergences will finally put enough pressure on the market to bring it down.

But right now no trendlines or moving averages have been broken and until that occurs the trend is your friend and the trend is still higher.

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.