The indices ended pretty much near where they began, and it was a very narrow day technically as well. 

The day started out with strong gap-up which took the NDX to new highs but right at that formidable 1460 level, which caused it to back off.  The S&P rallied to just underneath yesterday's highs and backed off as well. They came down to important intraday support, which held, around 1450 NDX and  then 1170-71 area on the S&P, and then rallied back, but in a much more corrective, tedious-type manner.  Over the last couple hours the market just drifted and just before the close backed off on a little bit of pre-weekend selling, which brought the indices back down.

Net on the day the Dow was up a whopping 5 points and the S&P was down 1.50.  But Nasdaq did manage to stay to the plus side, up 5.84 on the 100 and 5.55 on the Composite, aided by the SOX, which was up 2.50.

The technicals were lower on the advance-declines by 150 on New York and positive by 150 on Nasdaq.  Up/down volume  was dead-even flat on New York with 1.3 billion traded.  Nasdaq traded 1.5 billion with a 9 to 5 positive ratio on volume.

Recent Chart of the Week JAMDAT Mobile (JMDT) exploded today on an upgrade in guidance, soaring 6.82, closing at the high for the day on 6 1/4 million shares.  One of our other Charts of the Week Watchboard stocks, CryptoLogic (CRYP), popped for 1.70 today, not too far off the session highs, on an increase in volume.

Other stocks of note, Medicore (MDKI) continued its recent advance, having gained about 35-40% this week, closing just under 11, up 75 cents.  Arrythmia Research (HRT) was up 63 cents, and low-priced Applied Digital (ADSX) also closed near the high and right at key six-week resistance was up 42 cents on 2 1/4 million shares.

In the larger-cap sector QLogic (QLGC) advanced 49 cents, the Nasdaq Stock Market (NDAQ) stock was up 58 cents, and Broadcom (BRCM) was up 39 cents.

On the downside, Dynamic Materials (BOOM) gave back 60 cents from yesterday's big move, Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) was off 34, and Parlux Fragrances (PARL), despite a couple good pieces of news, fell 1.44, the loss leader on my board.

Stepping back and reviewing the overall patterns, the indices backed off of two key resistance levels.  1460 represented not only price resistance but the intermediate declining tops resistance and the top of the intermediate declining channel.

So, it was no surprise that the market hesitated there.  The S&P did the same near just under 1180.  Those are the resistance levels we'll be watching.

On the support side, 1450 and then 1442 NDX are the levels we'll be keeping an eye on.  On the S&P 1166-67 is the initial support level and beneath that 1155-57.

That's what we'll be watching next week.  Have a nice weekend!

Good trading!

Harry Boxer is a technical consultant to many Wall Street hedge funds and large institutional traders, and author of TheTechTrader.com, a real-time diary of his day, swing and intermediate-term trades. For more of Harry Boxer, sign up for a FREE 15-day trial to his Real-Time Technical Trading Diary, or sign up for a Free 30-Day Trial to his Top Charts of the Week service.