The stock market indices had a mixed session, and it certainly wasn’t a pretty one.

The day started out with a nice run to new rally highs, reaching 2240 on the Nasdaq 100 and nearly 1204 on the S&P 500. They came down sharply, especially on the NDX, with the Nasdaq generals like Apple Inc. (AAPL), Google Inc. (GOOG), and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) selling off steeply. That took the NDX from 2240 down to 2206. The S&P 500 at that point dropped from 1204 down to 1193 1/2. They rallied in the afternoon and took back about 50% on the NDX, and about 2/3 retracement on the S&P 500, only to rollover at the end of the day and close mixed on the session.

Net on the day, the Dow was up 32.62 at 11,555.63 and the S&P 500 up 2.64 to 1195.19, while the Nasdaq 100 was down 12.83 at 2011.39.

Advance-declines were 3 to 2 negative, with about 80 issues lower on the New York Stock Exchange, but 600 issues lower on Nasdaq, with a 3 to 2 decline as well. Up/down volume was flat on New York, with total volume of a weak 900 million shares traded today. Nasdaq traded 1.55 billion shares and had a 3 to 2 negative volume ratio.

It was a decidedly down day on the technicals despite the nominal gains on the blue chips.

TheTechTrader.com, as a result, was mixed, although there were quite a few winners in the low-priced sector. Leading the way, Inhibitex Inc. (INHX) was up 2.30 to 13.70, or 20%; Magal Security Systems Ltd. (MAGS) up 1.78 to 4.43, or 67%; Dex One Corporation (DEXO) 54 cents to 1.57, or nearly 53%; Central European Distribution Corp. (CEDC) 99 cents to 4.39, or 29%; Ocz Technology Group Inc. (OCZ) 83 cents to 6.80, or 14%; and Alimera Sciences, Inc. (ALIM) 14 cents to 1.31, or 12%.

Other stocks of note included Fusion-io Inc. (FIO) up 2.69 to 33.87, Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ACHN) 41 cents to 6.36, TAAR Surgical Company (STAA) 64 cents to 9.58, Pharmacyclics Inc. (PCYC) 81 cents to 14.34, Youku.com Inc (YOKU) 70 cents to 17.56, Onyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ONXX) 1.88 to 44.68, Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. (NOG) 70 cents to 22.90, and Hi Tech Pharmacal Co. Inc. (HITK) 1.31 to 41.72.

On the downside, Goldman Sachs (GS) lost 1.62 to 88.81, International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) 1.27 to 180.94, Universal Display Corp. (PANL) 2.06 to 38.19, and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (GMCR) 2.07 to 48.92.

In addition, a weak Nasdaq 100 group included Apple Inc. (AAPL) down 2.92 to 373.20, Google Inc. (GOOG) 5.26 to 582.93, and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) 5.76 to 188.39 as well as Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) down 2.38 to 67.57, and a few others.

VelocityShares Daily 2x VIX ST ETN (TVIX) was down 2.33 to 55.27 in a mixed ultra-short sector.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were up early, down sharply midday, and then bounced back in the afternoon only to rollover in the last hour.

It was a very disappointing session, and a poor follow-through to yesterday’s up day. Perhaps it can be determined a consolidation day.

We’ll see what gives tomorrow.

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