The stock market indices ended slightly higher today, but that was after a last two-hour sharp sell-off gave back almost of all their earlier gains.

The day started out with a nice gap to the upside. They backed and filled and pulled back to test the gap, and when that was successful they embarked on a 3-wave move that saw the indices reach new multiple-session rally highs. A sharp and steady sell-off ensued in the last couple of hours taking the Nasdaq 100 from near 1863 down to 1847 and the S&P 500 from 1123.50 down to 1116.50. A slight bounce at the end of the day firmed them up a tad.

Net on the day, the Dow was up 2.19 at 10,405.98, the S&P 500 up 2.60 at 1118.31, and the Nasdaq 100 up 4.81 to 1851.21. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was down .09 today.

Advance-declines, however, were 21 1/2 to 9 positive on New York, and just around 2 to 1 positive on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was about 2 to 1 positive on the New York Stock Exchange on total volume was just over 1 billion, Nasdaq traded over 2.7 billion and had a 17 to 10 positive ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board, as a result, was narrowly mixed today, with more gainers than losers, however. On the plus side, point-plus gainers included Sequenom (SQNM), up 1.13 to 8.05. Origin Agritech (SEED) advanced 1.26 to 9.99, RINO International (RINO) 1.49 to 21.94, and the Direxion Financial Bull 3x Shares (FAS) 1.00 even at 76.81.

Other large fractional gainers included Dendreon (DNDN), up 75 cents at 33.26, but that was 2 points off its earlier newly set all time high over $35. The stock traded nearly 31 million shares today, the heaviest volume in nearly a year. McMoRan (MMR) in a firmer oil group gained 47 cents to 18.04, and Brigham Explorations (BEXP) 21 cents to 17.62. That tagged a new high today at 18.

Other stocks of note are VIVUS Inc. (VVUS) up 43 cents to 9.31, Somaxon Pharmaceuticals (SOMX) 29 cents to 4.64, Salix Pharmaceuticals (SLXP) 50 cents to 30.27, Netgear (NTGR) 55 cents to 26.79, Nanometrics (NANO) 40 cents to 9.82, Halozyme Therapeutics (HALO) 33 cents to 6.96, and SmartHeat (HEAT) 32 cents to 12.36.

In addition, the Direxion Large Cap Bull 3X Shares (BGU) gained 53 cents to 53.16 and the U.S. Oil Fund ETF (USO) 45 cents to 38.80.

On the downside, the only point-plus loser on the board today was China Automotive (CAAS), down 1.34 to at 21.05 down 1.34, but Telestone Technologies (TSTC) lost another 99 cents to 16.71, and China Agritech (CAGC) 85 cents to 25.60 in a weaker China group today.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, they gapped up at the opening, had a 3-wave rally into mid-afternoon, then rolled over hard in the afternoon to give back most of the gains, but managed to hold onto some small gains to edge to the upside for the day. We’ll see if this late reversal is meaningful and has any downside follow through tomorrow or not.

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