The stock market indices closed mixed today after some choppy action, particularly in the morning. They opened higher on the Nasdaq 100 and lower on the S&P 500. Then the indices went down and tested key support short-term, held, and rallied back in a quick 5-wave rally. They were unable to get back above the morning highs, backed and filled for a couple hours and held support before a last afternoon rally took them to new highs. However, that didn’t last, and in the last 90 minutes they rolled over pretty hard, the S&P 500 coming back down from 1338 1/2 to 1330 1/2, dropping 8 points, and bouncing a bit into the close. The NDX dropped from 2438 down to 2427, and bounced, closing just under 2430.

Net on the day, the Dow was down 91.50 at 12,501.30, and the S&P 500 down 5.49 at 1331.94. However, the Nasdaq 100 was up 5.30 at 2429.45.

Advance-declines were 2 to 1 negative on the New York Stock Exchange, and also 2 to 1 negative on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 5 to 3 negative on New York on total volume of 825 million shares. Nasdaq traded 1.7 billion and had a slightly negative plurality on declining volume over advancing volume.

TheTechTrader.com, as a result, was mostly negative, but there were several outstanding gainers. Apple Inc. (AAPL) gained 4.91 to 403.41, InterDigital, Inc. (IDCC) jumped 2.71 to 74.01, and Molycorp, Inc. (MCP) was up 3.89 to 63.74, with Youku.com Inc. (YOKU) advancing 3.10 to 36.20.

In addition, low-priced Pinnacle Data Systems Inc. (PNS) was up 97 cents to 2.35, reaching 3.45 at one point, or 71%. Raptor Pharmaceuticals Corp. (RPTP) gained 66 cents to 5.66, Cardiome Pharma Corp. (CRME) 1.25 to 5.59, or 29%, and Sanmina-SCI Corp. (SANM), which we traded today, was up 1.97 to 11.19, or 21%.

Other gainers of note included Lexmark International Inc. (LXK) up 5.09 to 33.93, Altair Nanotechnologies, Inc. (ALTI) 40 cents to 1.65, or 32%, and RadioShack Corp. (RSH) 2.60 to 15.69, or 20%. In addition, Volterra Semiconductor Corporation (VLTR) rose 3.32 to 26.31, and Group 1 Automotive Inc. (GPI), another stock we traded today, was up 6.94 to 49.50. Broadcom Corp. (BRCM) jumped 3.29 to 38.20 on excellent earnings.

On the downside, point-plus losers included Coffee Holding Co.Inc. (JVA) down 1.22 to 19.08, LSB Industries Inc. (LXU) 1.74 to 44.22, MAKO Surgical Corp. (MAKO) 1.46 to 30.27, and Rediff.com India Ltd. (REDF) 1.40 to 9.78, nearly a 13% loss.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were up early but mixed, and then dropped sharply. They came back in a nice early morning to early afternoon rally that took them to new session highs only to rollover in the last half hour and slip back into the negative column, especially on the S&P 500, to close mixed on the session. Nevertheless, they’re still holding support at the 1330 level on the S&P 500 and 2520 on the NDX for now.

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