The indices hit new multi-week rally highs, but a fairly steep pullback in the last couple hours took the indices not only back off the highs but into a mixed picture at the close.

The day started out with a move up that failed at declining tops lines and moving average resistance intraday. They sold off rather quickly and sharply but held near secondary key support, and then had a very sharp intraday rally that saw the Nasdaq 100 jump from 1847 to 1884 while the S&P 500 went from about 1362 to 1381. Then they pulled back rather sharply in a mid afternoon 3-wave decline, and closed mixed.

Net on the day the Dow was down 16.61, the S&P 500 up 1.11, the Nasdaq 100 up 10.68, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) down 1.44.

The technicals were slightly positive by 17 to 14 on advance-declines on New York and by only about 90 issues on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 5 to 4 ahead on Nasdaq, but only a slight edge higher on New York. Total volume was less than 1 1/4 billion on New York and about 1.85 billion on Nasdaq.

TheTechTrader.com board was mixed, but there were several point-plus gainers. Our favorite group ,the junior solars, were hot today. The star of that group today was JA Solar (JASO), one of last week’s Charts of the Week, which advanced 3.28 on 15 1/4 million shares. Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) gained 1.32. Solarfun (SOLF) was up 54 cents, Ascent Solar (ASTI) up 41 cents ,Canadian Solar (CSIQ) up 33 cents, , Hoku Scientific (HOKU) 51 cents and China Sunergy (CSUN) up 75 cents.

Other stocks of note, China Natural Resources (CHNR) woke up and jumped 1.59, and China Finance Online (JRJC) jumped 22 cents. Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) gained 89 cents, MF Global 78 cents , Cree Inc. (CREE) up 83 cents, and Converted Organics (COIN) 67 cents.

On the downside, Washington Mutual (WM) fell 1.32, Georesources (GEOI) lost 1.81, Clearwire (CLWR) dropped 47 cents, Excel Maritime (EXM) 42 cents, and MBI 68 cents.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices had a whipsaw day in that they moved up at the get-go, down sharply in the morning and then the sharpest rally of the day was put in around mid day hours, but a nearly equally sharp pullback occurred in the last couple hours to bring them way off their session highs.

However, new 2 1/2 -month highs were set on the Nasdaq 100, and new 6-week highs on the S&P 500. But, the S&P failed to take out the late January or late February highs in the 1388-95 zone. That's what we'll be watching closely next week, while the Nasdaq 100 has more formidable resistance around the 1895-1900 area.

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.