The stock market indices struggled but finally closed positive in quite a volatile session. The day started out to the upside, and then rolled over hard after failing to take out resistance, with the Nasdaq 100 dropping from 2366 to 2330, and the S&P 500 dropping from 1259 down to 1241. They snapped back beginning late morning, and rallied sharply for the rest of the session, closing near the session highs.

Net on the day, the Dow was up 85.15 at 12,068.39. The S&P 500 rallied back from 1241 to 1262, and closed at 1260.12 up 7.89. The Nasdaq 100 jumped from 2330 to 2373, closing up 14.72 to 2371.04.

Advance-declines were 16 to 13 positive on the New York Stock Exchange, and 14 to 11 negative on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 3 to 2 positive on New York, with total volume a light 760 million shares traded today. Nasdaq traded just under 1.7 billion shares and had a 9 to 7 positive plurality.

TheTechTrader.com board was mixed, with quite a few gainers as well as losers with multiple points both ways. Inhibitex Inc. (INHX) was up 1.18 to 9.72, and traded as high as 10.60. HMS Holdings Corp. (HMSY) gained 3.60 to 28.73, Syntroleum Corp. (SYNM) 30 cents to 1.22, or 33%, and Gentiva Health Services Inc. (GTIV) 58 cents to 4.18.

In addition, MGIC Investment Corp. (MTG) advanced 38 cents to 2.94, or 14.8%, and Idenix Pharmaceuticals Inc. (IDIX) 64 cents to 6.29, or 11%. MELA Sciences, Inc. (MELA) rose 50 cents to 5.16, Flotek Industries Inc. (FTK) 68 cents to 8.09, and ExamWorks Group, Inc. (EXAM) 64 cents to 7.52.

Among other gainers of note, Skullcandy, Inc. (SKUL) was up 1.22 to 18.36, Youku.com Inc (YOKU) 1.26 to 21.63, Pharmasset, Inc. (VRUS) 3.34 to 72.23, Molycorp, Inc. (MCP) 1.44 to 41.62, and Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) 45 cents to 15.69.

The rare earth group had a good day. Rare Element Resources Ltd. (REE) was up 66 cents to 7.20, or 10%, and China Shen Zhou Mining & Resources, Inc. (SHZ) jumped 55 cents to 2.37, or 30%, with Avalon Rare Metals Inc. (AVL) up 35 cents to 3.58, or 10.8%.

On the downside, Universal Display Corp. (PANL) was down a whopping 4.61 to 47.36, MAKO Surgical Corp. (MAKO) down 2.05 to 35.39, Travelzoo Inc. (TZOO) 1.00 cents to 28.61, and First Solar, Inc. (FSLR) 1.85 to 47.74.

The ultra-short ETFs didn’t do too badly, but there were a few losers. VelocityShares Daily 2x VIX ST ETN (TVIX) was down 1.25 to 50.75, the Direxion Daily Emrg Mkts Bear 3X Shares (EDZ) down 44 cents to 17.68, the Direxion Daily Large Cap Bear 3X Shares (BGZ) 53 cents to 31.18. ProShares UltraShort DJ-UBS Crude Oil (SCO) down 1.52 to 42.43, ProShares UltraShort Gold (GLL) down 79 cents to 15.31, and ProShares UltraShort Silver (ZSL) 59 cents to 11.03.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were up early, down hard midday, and rallied back just as hard to close at solid gains on the day.

It was a very unique session, but on lower volume. Let’s see what happens tomorrow.

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