The stock market indices started the day off with a pretty sharp decline, and held right at support where it needed to, and then rallied back very sharply. It spent mid-day consolidating quietly, and then pulled back rather sharply, but held support. It bounced into the last hour, but pulled back in the last 10-15 minutes to close off the highs. Still, it had a nice, big gain for today.

Net on the day, the Dow was up 124.35 at 12,214.38, the S&P 500 up 11.69 at 1321.82, and the Nasdaq 100 up 9.48 at 2337.55.

Advance-declines were worse than 3 to 1 positive on the New York Stock Exchange, and 2 1/2 to 1 positive on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was better than 3 1/2 to 1 positive on New York with total volume just under 1 billion. Nasdaq traded over 1.8 billion and had a 2 to 1 positive ratio of advancing volume over declining volume.

So, a decisive day with positive technicals confirming.

TheTechTrader.com board was certainly a mixed picture, but there were a lot of stocks sharply higher today. Leading the way was BroadSoft, Inc. (BSFT), which exploded and was up as high as 17 at one point, but backed off to close up 12.60 to 47.50. Pharmasset, Inc. (VRUS) was up another 5.05 to 67.00 today after yesterday’s big gain. China Security & Surveillance Technology, Inc. (CSR) jumped 1.09 to 5.19, and Coleman Cable, Inc. (CCIX) gained 86 cents to 8.24.

In addition, Callidus Software Inc. (CALD) advanced 65 cents to 6.85. KV Pharmaceutical Co. (KV-A) had a big day, up 3.06 to 13.07, a 30% gain there. Tii Network Technologies, Inc (TIII) was up 56 cents to 3.93, Interphase Corp. (INPH) 1.45 to 6.68, Shanda Games Limited (GAME) 76 cents to 7.15, and IDT Corporation (IDT) 65 cents to 26.57.

Other stocks of note included InterDigital, Inc. (IDCC) up 1.33 to 45.47, Molycorp, Inc. (MCP) 2.07 to 49.77, and Goldman Sachs (GS) 2.15 to 161.30.

Most of the large-cap stocks still were rather narrowly mixed.

On the downside today, Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) lost 2.19 to 166.89. Brigham Exploration Co. (BEXP) in a weak oil patch with oil pulling back was down 1.03 to 34.29. Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. (NOG) dropped 1.42 to 31.03, and SodaStream International Ltd. (SODA) lost 1.02 to 41.56.

Some of the ultra-short ETFs were weak today, with the Direxion Daily Small Cap Bear 3X Shares (TZA) down 1.98 to 38.20, the Direxion Daily Financial Bear 3X Shares (FAZ) down 2.39 to 38.87, and the Direxion Daily Large Cap Bear 3X Shares (BGZ) down 1.00 to 36.65.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were down very early, but then they rallied sharply in the morning, moved in a plateau midday, and pulled back mid-afternoon. They bounced into the last hour, but pulled back near the close.

Still, they closed up in a very positive day, although the indices failed to take out key overhead resistance, which right now stands around the 2345-48 zone on the Nasdaq 100 and at around 1326-28 zone on the S&P 500.

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