The markets had a somewhat volatile session, up sharply in the morning, reached new highs for the year on the S&P 500 but were unable to confirm on the Nasdaq 100. They then rolled over sharply, retested the lows, bounced on two occasions, held the lows, and tried to snapback late in the session, but ended mixed on the day.

Net on the day the Dow was down 18.90 at 10,452.68, the S&P 500 up just 0.38 at 1109.2, and the Nasdaq 100 up 3.11 at 1790.82. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) had a good day, up 5.15, more than 1 1/2 percent.

Advance-declines were nearly 2 to 1 positive on New York and 3 to 2 positive on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was about 5 to 3 positive on New York on total volume of a light 970 million. Nasdaq, however, traded just over 2 billion and had a 2 to 1 positive volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was mostly narrowly mixed, with the majority of stocks on the downside. However, there were several point-plus gainers.

Nanometrics (NANO) was up 1.46 to 13.10. China Green Agriculture (CGA) gained 1.33 to 17.90. China Agritech (CAGC) was a big winner, up 3.92 at 26.15. In addition, SmartHeat (HEAT) advanced 92 cents to 15.87 and China Automotive (CAAS) added 41 cents to 20.92.

All of those were in a very strong Chinese sector today.

Other gainers of note, Brigham Exploration (BEXP) jumped 34 cents to 11.33, Human Genome Sciences (HGSI) 43 cents to 27.46, and portfolio position SIGA Technologies (SIGA) 34 cents to 9.32.

On the downside, RINO International (RINO) got slammed back from recent spike highs, down 2.75 to 30.51. Origin Agritech (SEED) dropped 1.21 to 12.47.

Financials were weak, with Goldman Sachs (GS) down nearly 1 point at 166.66, Wells Fargo (WFC) 54 cents to 27.45, and JP Morgan (JPM) 29 cents to 41.93.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, they were up sharply in the morning, back down sharply mid-day and then meandered sideways for most of the rest of the session before trying to firm late in the session. But still, a mixed close. Perhaps profit-taking, or perhaps the beginning of a top. We’ll see what develops in the next few days.

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