The stock market indices had a mixed day today with the blue chips up and the Nasdaq down at the end of the day. The day started out with a gap down, and then the indices bounced around with the Nasdaq 100 moving lower. The S&P 500 at that point did not confirm. They did, however, continue to consolidate sideways on the S&P 500, but in a downward channel on the NDX, albeit an orderly one. In the afternoon key support was tested near 2400 NDX and the 1354-55 zone on the S&P 500. When that held, they came back in the last couple hours to finish mixed.

Net on the day, the Dow was up 72.35 at 12,763.31, and the S&P 500 up 4.82 at 1360.48. However, the Nasdaq 100 was down 3.69 at 2409.90.

Technicals were solid even though volume was on the light side on the NYSE. Advance-declines were 3 to 2 positive on the New York Stock Exchange and about 14 to 11 positive on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 5 to 3 positive on New York with total volume of just over 945 million. Nasdaq traded about 1.9 billion and had about a 5 to 4 positive ratio, advancing volume over declining volume.

TheTechTrader.com board had a very nice day today with many point-plus gainers. Among those gainers today were two Motorola spinoffs, Motorola Solutions, Inc. (MSI), up 3.24 to 46.66, and Sky-mobi Limited (MOBI), up 1.72 to 22.03.

Large gainers of note included Fortinet Inc. (FTNT) up 6.04 to 47.77, Citrix Systems, Inc. (CTXS) up 7.54 to 85.37.

In addition, AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (AVEO) was up 2.08 to 15.83, Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc. (HRC) 2.71 to 44.13, and Acacia Research Corporation (ACTG) 2.11 to 41.14. ReachLocal, Inc. (RLOC) followed through on yesterday’s big gain with another 1.48 to 25.51.

Among other point-plus gainers of note, IntraLinks Holdings, Inc. (IL) was up 1.72 to 30.96, IMAX Corporation (IMAX) 1.94 to 34.24, Lithia Motors Inc. (LAD) 1.02 to 17.88, Molycorp, Inc. (MCP) 1.55 to 74.12, and VirnetX Holding Corp (VHC) 1,86 to 26.31.

Large fractional gainers included swing trade Velti Plc (VELT) up 81 cents to 18.27, Sify Technologies Limited (SIFY) 61 cents to 8.14, and Rediff.com India Ltd. (REDF) up 20 cents on the day to 16.40, after soaring to near 18.

Also, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG) was up 2.64 to 265.64, Ku6 Media Co., Ltd. (KUTV) 63 cents to 7.70, IntelliPharmaCeutics International Inc. (IPCI) 56 cents to 4.75, and portfolio position Golar LNG Ltd. (GLNG) 92 cents to 32.03. IDT Corporation (IDT) gained 58 cents to 28.58.

On the downside, Goldman Sachs (GS) lost 2.26 to 150.60, Apple Inc. (AAPL) was down 3.40 to 346.75, and Travelzoo Inc. (TZOO) gave back 1.25 to 84.13.

As you can see, some of the larger-cap stocks are weak and continue to weigh on the Nasdaq 100, and the result was that index being down today.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were down in an orderly fashion on Nasdaq for most of the morning, and sideways on the S&P 500. In the afternoon they both rallied, with the S&P 500 reaching new highs, but the NDX, obviously, failed to confirm and backed off just a tad into the close, ending mixed on the day.

Nevertheless, not a bad day considering the big rally we've had previously. We'll see tomorrow whether some profit taking sets in or not.

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