The stock market indices ended mixed on the session with the blue chips down and the Nasdaq 100 up just a small fraction, but technicals were weaker and lower, confirming the softness today as profit-taking may have started to set in. Late in the day the indices did snap back to pare back the losses dramatically, and put the NDX in the plus column.

The day started out with a move up and then a quick retest of support before they rallied in the morning, taking the NDX to nearly 2311 and the S&P 500 to just under 1287. At that point they started to pull back, and then rolled over into late in the session, so the last several hours they were trending lower. Only in the last 20-30 minutes did they snap back to pare back the losses.

Net on the day, the Dow was down just 23.54 at 11,731.90, the S&P 500 down 2.20 at 1283.76, and Nasdaq 100 up 0.65 at 2305.53.

Advance-declines, however, were about 16 to 13 negative on the New York Stock Exchange, and 14 to 11 negative on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was about 5 to 3 negative on New York on total volume of just over 900 million. Nasdaq traded over 1.9 billion shares and had a slightly positive plurality on volume.

TheTechTrader.com board was mostly positive. Leading the way by far was Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG), which jumped nearly 12.00 to 229.64.

Other stocks of note included Polypore International Inc. (PPO) up 3.30 to 47.81, China MediaExpress Holdings, Inc. (CCME) up 2.16 to 20.61, ARM Holdings PLC (ARMH) up 3.24 to 27.26, and TTM Technologies Inc. (TTMI), which we traded today, up 3.12 to 17.74. SodaStream International Ltd. (SODA) had a monster day, up 6.30 to 39.00, and E-Commerce China Dangdang Inc. (DANG) jumped 2.64 to 34.35.

In addition, EXFO Inc (EXFO) was up 1.49 to 9.06, Ultra Clean Holdings Inc. (UCTT) up 1.42 to 11.70, STEC, Inc. (STEC) 1.09 to 22.17, and China New Borun Corporation (BORN) 1.24 to 13.12. MIPS Technologies Inc. (MIPS) snapped back 2 points and closed up 1.18 off its low, up 1.18 to 17.71, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (VRTX) advanced 1.34 to 38.55.

There were many other winners today with less than a point fractional gains, including day-trade pick Integral Systems Inc. (ISYS), which closed up 95 cents to 12.10.

On the downside, there were just a few point-plus losers. Amtech Systems Inc. (ASYS) was down 1.15 to 27.92, Golden Minerals Company (AUMN) down 1.50 to 22.37, and American International Group, Inc. (AIG) down 1.21 to 57.19. Molycorp, Inc. (MCP) lost 3.53 to 48.86 today in a weak rare-earth group. Lululemon Athletica Inc. (LULU) dropped 1.09 to 71.76, giving back some of yesterday’s gains.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were up early, reached midmorning highs, and then rolled over the next several hours to reach the lows with about a half hour to go before the session end. But they snapped back right into the close to pare back the losses, and ended mixed on the session.

We’ll have to see how it goes tomorrow. We’ll be watching today’s lows around the 1278-80 zone on the S&P 500 as initial support. Beneath that around 1270, and then 1260-62.

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