The stock market indices managed to eek out another gain today with a strong rally after morning losses, closing not far off the session highs and off the 2010 highs.

The day started out with a little pop to the upside that tested 2000 on the Nasdaq 100 but fell short on the S&P 500. At that point they rolled over, came down sharply, took out a couple minor layers of support, tested key secondary support at 1985 NDX and 1189.90 on the S&P 500. From there they bounced in a steady fashion in a rising channel all session, reaching their peaks with about a half hour to go before they gave back a little bit at the close.

Net on the day, the Dow closed at 11,019.42, up 13.45. The S&P 500 closed at 1197.30, up just 0.82, and the NDX at 2003.80, up 8.16.

Advance-declines were barely ahead today by just 80 issues on the New York Stock Exchange and by about 84 issues on the Nasdaq. So, a very narrow advance today.

TheTechTrader.com board, which reflected that today, was mostly lower. Several stocks were down more than a point as profit-taking and distribution were apparent today.

China Agritech (CAGC) lost 2.08 to 20.70 in a weak Chinese sector. L&L Energy (LLEN) gave back 1.09 to 12.16, and Callon Petroleum Co. (CPE) rolled over hard from 8.80 to 6.55 before bouncing to close at 7.01, down 1.28 on 10 1/4 million shares on profit-taking.

Additional profits were taken at Houston American Energy Corp. (HUSA) down 89 cents to 12.93. Brigham Exploration (BEXP) gave back 26 cents to 18.16, while several other junior oils were down smaller fractions.

Other losses of notes: Pixelworks Inc. (PXLW) lost 51 cents to 5.14. Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. (NOG), also in the junior oil sector, was down 80 cents to 15.79. Incyte Corp (INCY) lost 62 cents to 14.16, China Armco Metals (CNAM) in the Chinese sector was down 43 cents to 7.39, and China Automotive (CAAS) fell 86 cents to 21.57.

On the plus side today there were no point-plus gains other than low-priced Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (MIPI), which had a positive announcement today and jumped 4.49 before backing off a point. It closed at 3.43, still up 1.93, a very big percentage gain there today. Opexa Therapeutics, Inc. (OPXA) gained 49 cents to 2.88, a substantial increase today, and low-priced Antigenics advanced 35 cents to 1.03.

Other stocks on the upside included Pharmacyclics (PCYC) at 8.00 up 46 cents, and Clean Energy Fuels (CLNE) at 20.49 up 67 cents, taking back some of yesterday's losses. Eastman Kodak Co. (EK) managed to advance 15 cents to 7.65 after reaching 7.92 earlier in the day.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, they were up early, then sold off sharply mid-morning, but came back the rest of the day, closing positive on the session.

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