The indices had a surprisingly strong Friday following yesterday afternoon's sharp sell-off. We anticipated some morning strength, but were surprised to see the market hold up for most of the day without a deeper retracement.

The day started out with a gap up. They backed and filled early on, then had a strong morning surge, pulled back in an orderly fashion, then came on again late in the morning. For the rest of he day they meandered in a trading range, but refused to break down below support and towards the very end of the day surged back up again, with the NDX closing at the highs for the day going away.

Net on the day the Dow was up 78, the S&P 500 up a little less than 7 1/2, and the Nasdaq 100 up more than 37. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was up 4 3/4.

Technicals were positive by 3 to 2 on advance-declines on New York and about 17 to 10 on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was about 3 to 2 positive on New York on light volume of just over $1 billion. Nasdaq had a much larger plurality, about 3 1/2 to 1 positive on volume of 1.88 billion.

TheTechTrader.com board was active, mixed, with an edge to the plus side. Shipping stocks had a fantastic snapback session, with DryShips (DRYS) closing at a new record closing high at 121.84, up 8.70. Excel Maritime (EXM) closed up 5.45, at 70.58, a new all-time closing high as well. Also in that group TBSI gained $4.70.

Chinese stocks were mixed, but snapback stocks included Chindex (CHDX) up 1.32, China Medical Technologies (CMED) up 1.63, and Jinpan (JST) up 1.58. But there were also fractional losers in the Chinese sector as well.

Other stocks on the plus side included e-Future Information Technology (EFUT), up 95 cents. GigaMedia (GIGM) was up another 51 cents to a new closing high. Nuance Communications (NUAN) was up 36 cents, Taser (TASR) snapped back 51 cents, and UEPS hit a new closing high of 30.94, up 64 cents.

Vicon Industries (VII) snapped back, up 79 cents, but on low volume.

On the downside, Global Solutions (GSOL) fell 50 cents, Cree Inc. (CREE) 82 cents, and American Diary (ADY) down 60 cents.

The QQQQ was up 87 cents, and the QID down 1.28.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices plunged yesterday afternoon, but snapped back sharply in the morning today. They then worked their way back higher, consolidating for the rest of the session before a late closing surge closed the Nasdaq 100 at the highs for the day, with the S&P 500 beneath mid-day resistance at 1563, which is currently formidable price and moving average resistance on the hourly charts.

The early part of next week will be very important for this market. If it opens lower and has a bad day on Monday, it could signal further weakness. But today was an impressive day indeed in terms of the market's resilience and ability to hold after yesterday's plunge.

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.