The stock market indices ended up again today on Wednesday, but in a much narrower session and in a more of a consolidative pattern. The day started out with a gap up, and then they backed off, retested the highs, made slight nominal new highs but couldn't follow through, and then rolled over rather hard, setting the session lows by late morning.

The indices held 1800 on the Nasdaq 100 and 1095 on the S&P 500, and then firmed the rest of the session, closing not far off the session highs.

Net on the day the Dow up 40.43 at 10,309.24, just 11 points off its high. The S&P 500 up 4.64 at 1090.51, just 1 1/2 points off its high at 1101. The NDX was up 8.80 at 1810.86, just fractions off its high today.

Technicals were positive by 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange on advance-declines, by 3 to 2 on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was also about 2 to 1 positive on total volume just over 1 billion shares, Nasdaq traded over just 2 billion and also had a 2 to 1 positive volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was mixed but generally higher, particularly on the stock equity side. Leading the way today were Whole Foods Market (WFMI) up 3.83 to 34.35, Dollar Thrifty Auto (DGT) up 2.36 to 30.25, and China Agritech (CAGC) up 1.75 at 21.15.

Other gainers of note included TASER International Inc. (TASR), which jumped 46 cents to 6.41. China Green Agriculture (CGA) advanced 91 cents to 14.40, China Automotive (CAAS) 98 cents to 18.16, Brigham Exploration (BEXP) 38 cents to 16.49, and Acorda Therapeutics (ACOR) 61 cents to 31.91.

In the ETF sector the Direxion Large Cap Bull 3X Shares (BGU) advanced 74 cents to 50.43 and the Direxion Financial Bull 3x Shares (FAS) was up 67 cents to 70.67.

On the downside there were just fractional losers today, the largest of which included Telestone Technologies (TSTC) down 94 cents to 18.20, Canadian Solar (CSIQ) down 36 cents to 24.34, iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX) 88 cents to 28.94 and the UltraPro Short S&P 500 ProShares (SPXU) down 54 cents to 36.65.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were up early, pulled back, tested support successfully, and then had a 3-wave rally to press the highs late in the session, closing not far off the highs on the NDX and close to it on the S&P 500. So the rally continued today, but much more formidable overhead resistance exists up around the 1825-30 zone on the NDX and around the 1104-05 area on the SPX.

We'll see what kind of additional progress they’ll be able to make or whether they rollover tomorrow.

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