Despite a very strong opening and an early rally that tested the 2010 highs on the Nasdaq 100, the stock market indices sold off sharply, bounced around and did rally late in the day, but ended mixed on the day.

The day started out with gap up, and a big one, with the Nasdaq 100 running up to 2041 and the S&P 500 running to the 1211 area, just 3 points short of its high of a week or two ago. Then they fell back in a very sharp 3-wave decline, testing key support before bouncing midday.

When two rally attempts to take out resistance failed, the indices rolled over, with the SPX taking out key support around the 1201-02 zone, tagging 1199. However, when the NDX failed to confirm and the SPX failed to follow through, they turned it around sharply in the last hour, rallying them back to close the Dow and NDX back in the plus column.

Net on the day, the Dow was up just 7.86 at 11,124.92, the S&P 500 was down 1.23 at 1205.94, and the Nasdaq 100 up 10.93 at 2034.53. The OEX dropped back a point to 550.05, down 1.03.

Advance-declines were positive by 404 issues on the New York Stock Exchange but by just 150 issues on Nasdaq.

TheTechTrader.com board, as a result, was narrowly mixed. There were no stocks on our board up or down by as much as a point today, which made for a difficult day trading in terms of intraday momentum.

Leading the way on the plus side, Dendreon (DNDN) was up 71 cents to 39.42, and Houston American Energy Corp. (HUSA) snapped back 70 cents to 13.38. Other than that most other gainers on our board had just fractional changes today.

Other gainers of note: TiVo Inc. (TIVO) jumped 28 cents to 18.17, Mindspeed Technologies (MSPD) 25 cents to 8.62, and Delcath Systems (DCTH) 25 cents at 10.85, but in afterhours trading on very good drug news it jumped another 2.50.

On the downside, American International Group (AIG) gave back 73 cents to 40.90, China Armco Metals (CNAM) 78 cents to 6.17, and RINO International (RINO) 64 cents to 18.88. Somaxon Pharmaceuticals (SOMX) lost 44 cents to 7.25, and China Agritech (CAGC) 79 cents to 19.01.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were up sharply early, pulled back sharply mid-morning, and then bounced around, rallied back midday, but failed to take out the highs and rolled over to retest, with the NDX holding lows and the SPX making new lows. A late snap brought them back near the afternoon highs, closing slightly changed on the day. An inconclusive day, but the fact that price and moving average support held was positive for the bulls.

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