The indices suffered a down session on Wednesday, but it was much different in the morning. The market opened positive, backed off , held support and then had a strong surge to new rally highs, crossing 1870 NDX and 1378 S&P. Those levels happened to be right near formidable intermediate resistance and the indices backed off from there.

When they tried to snap back and couldn't take out the earlier session highs they sold off sharply and suffered a sharp 3 wave decline which spiked down to new lows in the afternoon on both indices. Over the last 45 minutes the indices snapped back and took back a chunk of the losses.

Still, net on the day the Dow was down 48, the S&P 500 down 2.65, and the Nasdaq 100 6 2/3. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) managed to gain 2.74 today as the semiconductor group's stocks are coming alive, which may be a positive factor for the indices going forward.

Technicals positively diverged by 3 to 2 on advance-declines on New York and by just 213 issues higher on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was about 4 to 3 positive on New York and 10 to 9 negative on Nasdaq, on total volume of just under 2 billion.

TheTechTrader.com board was mixed, but there were several point-plus gainers, many of those in my favorite group, the Junior solar energy group, which had an outstanding session today. Leading the way was low-priced Solarfun (SOLF), which gained 2.24 on 11 million shares to 14.55.

JA Solar (JASO) gained 1.33, Canadian Solar (CSIQ) 1.45, China Sunergy (CSUN) 1.32, and portfolio position Emcore (EMKR) gained 6.83, more than 14% today.

Other stocks of note Chindex (CHDX), also a portfolio position, which is about to split 3 to 2, got back over 40, closing at 39.98, up 1.08. GeoResources (GEOI), a recent Chart of the Week, tagged 16, closing at 15.90, up 72 cents to a 2 1/2-year high. YTEC, also one of our recent Charts of the Week, was up 46 cents, and WM up 46 cents as well.

On the downside, point-plus losers included Excel Maritime (EXM), down 1.95. DryShips (DRYS) fell 1.58 and TBS International (TBSI) down 8 cents in a weak shipping sector.

Other losses of note, Clearwire (CLWR) lost 1.42 and Aluminum Corp. of China (ACH) 1.18. Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) gave back 60 cents, Sigma Designs (SIGM) 54 cents, and Global Solutions (GSOL) 75 cents.

Portfolio position DCR gave back 40 cents on the big rise in oil today.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices reached key overhead resistance and the top of their recent rising channels, so it wasn't surprising we saw a pullback from those levels, but it was quite sharp. However, they did hold the moving averages on the hourly charts before bouncing late in the session.

Resistance levels to watch tomorrow are 1850, 1860 and 1870 on the Nasdaq 100. S&P 500 resistance is at 1368-70 and 1376-78.

Those are the resistance levels we'll be watching tomorrow to see if the indices can right themselves and extend the rally.

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.