The indices ended up marginally higher, although the Dow did slip into the negative column right near the close on a late-afternoon pullback.

The day started out with a move up, and then a retest of support, which was successful. That triggered a steady rise all through late morning and mid-day into mid-afternoon when they finally reached their session peaks near 1510 NDX and 947 SPX. At that point they got a last hour pullback that pulled them off the highs to pare the gains.

Net on the day the Dow lost 1.43, the S&P 500 was up 3.29, and the Nasdaq 100 up 13.06. That was chiefly fueled by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX), jumped 12.05 today, or about 4 1/2 percent.

The technicals were positive by 3 to 2 on advance-declines on New York and a like amount on Nasdaq. But up/down volume was the story today on Nasdaq, with nearly 4 to 1 positive on total volume of more than 2.1 billion. New York was much narrower, with a less than 3 to 2 positive ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board had a very solid session today. Leading the way were Potash (POT) up 3.60 at 115.54, Mosaic (MOS) up 1.97 to 53.73, and portfolio position OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals (OGXI) was up 1.16 to 25.91.

Top 20 list member STEC Inc.(STEC) gained 1.80 to 20.92, a new 18-month high.

Junior solars were strong today, with Yingli Green Energy (YGE) up 59 cents to 15.87 and Canadian Solar (CSIQ) up 40 cents to 15.62. Dendreon (DNDN) added 50 cents 25.61, and AgFeed Industries (FEED) jumped 38 cents to 7.71.

Among other of our portfolio positions: Patriot Coal (PCX) +40 cents to 8.79, Pyramid Oil (PDO) +34 cents to 8.48, SIGA Technologies (SIGA) +20 cents to 8.31, and Oculus Innovative Sciences (OCLS) +32 cents to 4.58.

On the downside, just fractional losses, other than Apple (AAPL), which gave back 1.13 at 142.74.

Financials were mixed today, with Goldman Sachs (GS) up 96 cents and Morgan Stanley (MS) down 41 cents. JP Morgan (JPM) lost 13 cents, Hartford Financial Services (HIG) down 51 cents, Wells Fargo (WFC) up 27 cents, and Bank of America (BAC) unchanged. So, a little bit of churning perhaps in that group.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices extended their 2009 highs on the Nasdaq 100 near 1510, but failed to make a new high on the S&P 500. In fact, it was unable to take out the highs of the last of the last three sessions at resistance at around 947 and the level thwarted the rally late in the session, putting all the indices back lower. But there was a lot of strength in individual issues, particularly on TheTechTrader.com board, and we’ll see if that continues tomorrow.

Harry Boxer is a technical consultant to many Wall Street hedge funds and large institutional traders, and author of TheTechTrader.com.