The stock market indices were narrowly mixed today and a little choppy. They started out with a gap to the upside and that was it. Basically, they reached their session highs in the first few minutes, sold off sharply in the morning to test support, bounced midday to take about 50% back, and then backed off to retest. When that was successful they came on into the close, but in the last 10 minutes backed off one more time.

Net on the day, the Dow was off just 2.42 at 11,370.06. However, the S&P 500 was up 4.72 at 1233 even, and the NDX managed to get into the plus column by 0.97 at 2201.57.

Advance-declines were ahead by 350 issues on the New York Stock Exchange and by about 460 issues on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 2 to 1 positive on Nasdaq with total volume of 1.9 billion shares, and New York traded just over 1 billion today with about a 2 1/2 to 1 positive volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was mostly higher, with several major winners. Two new Chinese IPOs in their second day of trading had a big day, with Youku.com (YOKU) up 9.26 to 42.70 and DangDang (DANG) up another 2.31 to 32.22.

Among other big gainers, Lululemon Athletica Inc. (LULU), on strong earnings, was up 7.86 to 63.56. Diamond Foods, Inc. (DMND) advanced 4.76 to 50.58, CIENA Corp. (CIEN) 2.44 to 18.36, and MIPS Technologies Inc. (MIPS) 1.73 to 15.23.

In addition, ASML Holding NV (ASML) was up 2.58 to 37.75, Finisar Corp. (FNSR) 1.15 to 25.14, Polypore International Inc. (PPO) 1.44 to 44.53, and Gold Resource Corp (GORO) 1.35 to 27.10, a new all-time high. Cree Inc. (CREE) jumped 2.00 to 70.60, and Acme Packet, Inc. (APKT) snapped back 1.05 to 53.59.

Among the large fractional gainers of note, Orient Paper Inc. (ONP) gained 80 cents to 6.90, Ocz Technology Group Inc. (OCZ) 80 cents to 4.75, EDAP TMS SA (EDAP) 71 cents to 4.71, or 18%, and Capstone Therapeutics Corp. (CAPS) 23 cents to 1.19, a 24% gain. Axcelis Technologies Inc. (ACLS) added36 cents to 3.18, AudioCodes Ltd. (AUDC) 35 cents to 6.05, Eastman Kodak Co. (EK) 54 cents to 5.31, and Power-One Inc. (PWER) 56 cents to 10.95.

Another big winner today was Helen of Troy Limited (HELE), up 3.90 to 27.44. Riverbed Technology, Inc. (RVBD) jumped 1.25 to 36.21, SuperMedia Inc. (SPMD) 71 cents to 7.25, Silicon Image Inc. (SIMG) 74 cents to 8.11, China Shen Zhou Mining & Resources, Inc. (SHZ) 50 cents to 3.94, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (GT) 1.07 to 11.55, and Arbitron Inc. (ARB) up 5.89 to 37.19, a big day today. Exelixis, Inc. (EXEL) gained 69 cents to 6.51.

There were many other fractional gainers, too numerous to mention.

On the downside, the only point-plus losers on our board today were Apple Inc. (AAPL), down 1.25 to 319.76, and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) 1.44 to 174.85.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were up at the opening, sold off sharply by late morning, bounced into the early afternoon, and then pulled back mid-afternoon to retest, but then came on again at the close only to give it back in the last 10 minutes.

Net on the day, a narrowly mixed close.

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