It was another big day for Wall Street. The stock market indices ended near the session highs going away at another new 2011 S&P 500 high. More importantly the indices closed with very positive gains today and strong technicals as well.

The day started out with a gap up right at resistance at 2405 on the Nasdaq 100 and around 1350 S&P 500. They then backed off, tested, and could not break down. Although the S&P 500 made a nominal new low, it was not confirmed by the NDX, which held 2390 and then took off, running from 2390 to nearly 2416. The S&P 500 jumped from 1344 to 1357 1/2. They backed off a little bit before the close, and then firmed into the close.

Net on the day, the Dow was up 95.59 at 12,690.96, the S&P 500 up 8.42 at 1355.66, less than 2 points off its high, and the Nasdaq 100 up 17.56 at 2413.59, about 2 points off its high.

Advance declines were positive by nearly 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange and by about 3 to 2 positive on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was better than 2 to 1 positive on New York on total volume of just over 900 million. Nasdaq traded just under 2 billion today and had a better than 2 to 1 positive ratio.

So, strong technicals confirming today.

TheTechTrader.com board had several gainers. Leading the way today was major gainer, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (REGN), up 14.91 to 67.05, trading as high as 71 1/2 at one point. Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) jumped 14.33 to 196.63 after its earnings report, and ReachLocal, Inc. (RLOC), which we traded today, was up 6.04 to 24.03, a 33.57% gain there.

Other gainers of note included LM Ericsson Telephone Co. (ERIC) up 1.75 to 14.89, Centene Corp. (CNC) 1.48 to 35.66, Cardiome Pharma Corp. (CRME) 95 cents to 5.36, and Central European Media Enterprises Ltd. (CETV) 1.27 to 22.15. Rediff.com India Ltd. (REDF), a big gainer for us today, got as high as 16.87, closing up 2.17 to 16.20 on big volume today. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (VRTX) was up 2.62 to 55.54, swing trade Rackspace Hosting, Inc (RAX) up 1.86 to 45.80, and Old Dominion Freight Line Inc. (ODFL) 3.11 to 37.62. That was a day trade for us as was Navigant Consulting Inc. (NCI) up 1.08 to 11.04. Lithia Motors Inc. (LAD) was also a day trade, up 1.80 to 16.86. Swing trade Keynote Systems Inc. (KEYN) gained 1.12 to 22.36.

The big low-priced winner in the biotech sector was Genetic Technologies Ltd. (GENE), up 2.29 to 5.46, a percentage gain of 72.25% on nearly 2.9 million today.

On the downside, the only point-plus loser on our board today was Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG), down 1.94 to 263.00 even.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices moved up early, tested resistance and backed off fairly sharply to test support, which held on the NDX and moved just slightly below it on the S&P 500, and then they had a steady move higher, broke out in the afternoon to new highs and closed not too far off the session highs.

It was a very good day and the rally continues. At this point, however, it’s getting quite overbought short-term.

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