The stock market indices started the week off with a positive session and gapped up right at the opening. They then backed off, retested, backed and filled for most of the morning, but by mid-day started an advance that took them to new rally highs and new 2010 highs. At the very end of the day they backed and filled, and backed off into the close to pare back the gains.

Net on the day, the Dow closed up 45.19 at 10.698,75. The S&P 500 was up 6.15 at 1127.79. The Nasdaq 100 gained 12.29 at 1915.17.

Advance-declines were 3 to 1 positive on the New York Stock Exchange and 2 to 1 positive on Nasdaq. But the story today was the low volume on New York, which totaled less than 800 million at 783 million shares, likely the lowest volume of the year. Nasdaq volume managed to come in at over 1.5 billion, with the radio at about 2 1/2 to 1 positive on both exchanges.

TheTechTrader.com board, as a result, was mostly higher. Leading the way today was GeoEye (GEOY), which gapped up and ran hard, closing up 7.30 at 39.50. Google Inc. (GOOG) jumped 5.13 at 505.35.

Other point-plus gainers included DigitalGlobe, Inc. (DGI) up 3.72 at 31.44, which also had a strong session. Both GEOY and DGI were early picks today from TheTechTrader and had a stellar session.

Point-plus gainers on our board today were Apple Inc. (AAPL) up 1.66 at 261.75, Acme Packet, Inc. (APKT) up 1.20 at 32.82, International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) up 1.86 at 132.00, and OmniVision Technologies Inc. (OVTI) 1.25 at 24.63.

Other gainers of note were Nanometrics Incorporated (NANO) up 64 cents at 12.97, Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) up 39 cents at 5.63, Spreadtrum Communications Inc. (SPRD) 78 cents at 10.85, Westport Innovations Inc. (WPRT) 67 cents at 18.73, Trina Solar Ltd. (TSL) 45 cents at 24.22, Power-One Inc. (PWER) 43 cents at 12.78, Cirrus Logic Inc. (CRUS) 48 cents at 20.40, Cree Inc. (CREE) 97 cents at 71.59, China Agritech Inc. (CAGC) 34 cents at 15.88, and Biovail Corporation (BVF) 68 cents at 23.09.

On the downside, the only point-plus losers on our board were China Automotive Systems Inc. (CAAS), which released earnings and dropped 2 points to 18.70, and the Direxion Daily Small Cap Bear 3X Shares (TZA), down 1.05 at 30.39.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices gapped up, backed off, consolidated, and then ran in the afternoon before a late consolidation and pullback pared back the gains. But still it was a positive session to start the week. The indices remain above their moving averages on the hourly charts and continue to look bullish.

One concern today was the ultra-low volume on the NYSE, and we’ll see how that affects trading tomorrow.

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