The stock market indices ended the final session of this week with another very strong day, but most of the gains were had on the opening gap. The indices popped sharply higher, then backed and filled for the first hour, before moved higher and reaching the session highs just before noon. A couple pokes at that level around the 2381 area on the Nasdaq 100 and the 1337 1/2 area on the S&P 500 were unsuccessful, and they backed and filled into the close. They did manage to firm into the close to finish on a positive note.

Net on the day, the Dow was up 52.45 at 12,505.99, closing over 12,500 for the first time in a long time. The S&P 500 was up 7.02 at 1337.38, approaching the key resistance zone, and the Nasdaq 100 up 19.54 at 2377.30.

Advance declines were just under 2 to 1 positive on the New York Stock Exchange and 3 to 2 positive on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was a little less than 2 to 1 positive on New York with total volume of about 800 million. Nasdaq traded about 1.8 billion and had a 2 to 1 positive ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board had a very active day today, with many point-plus gainers. Leading the way by far was Travelzoo Inc. (TZOO), which announced blowout earnings and blew out Wall Street price-wise as well, gaining 20.35 to 94.22. That stock was trading in the 30 range just a couple months ago.

Other big gainers of note included Biogen Idec Inc. (BIIB), up 13.13 to 99.70, trading up almost 20 points earlier. Select Comfort Corporation (SCSS) jumped 4.02 to 17.29, swing trade pick Ultratech, Inc. (UTEK) was up 2.12 to 29.14, Align Technology Inc. (ALGN) 3.60 to 24.99, and SLM Corporation (SLM) 1.85 to 16.31.

In addition, Apple Inc. (AAPL) advanced 8.29 to 350.70, although that was off the session highs. Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) was up 2.02 to 185.89, and International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) up 3.53 to 168.28, a new all-time high. SodaStream International Ltd. (SODA) gained 1.55 to 43.53, and current swing trade RealPage, Inc. (RP) 1.64 to 31.73.

Smaller fractional gainers included Amarin Corporation plc (AMRN) up 95 cents to 16.92, Novatel Wireless Inc. (NVTL) 78 cents to 5.67, and Rediff.com India Ltd. (REDF) 71 cents to 11.25.

On the downside, the big point-plus loser for the day after its earnings release was Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG), down 10.80 to 277.30. Molycorp, Inc. (MCP) lost 3.23 to 68.24 in a soft rare-earth group, but Avalon Rare Metals Inc. (AVL) on take-over rumors jumped 44 cents to 9.32.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices gapped up, back and filled early, made their session highs just before midday, and then consolidated the rest of the session. It was a very strong close to the week considering the big gains earlier in the week. The market was unwilling to give back any of the gains at all.

It was a great day and week for the bulls. We’ll have to see how it goes next week.

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