The indices suffered some profit-taking on Friday and ended down on the session with technicals confirming it, but it was a rather muted decline except for the opening few minutes where the markets gapped lower.   Initial support held on the Nasdaq 100, was violated on the S&P, but not too much damage was done, and the indices tested support on two or three occasions and held. After lunch the indices took off on an afternoon rally try which just nominal tagged new 5-month highs on the Nasdaq 100 but fell short on the S&P.

They backed off into the last hour, and then bounced right near the close to pare the losses.

Net on the day, the Dow was down 16 Ã,½, the S&P down 3 2/3, and the NDX 4 Ã,½.  The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was down 4 today. 

Advance-declines were decidedly negative by about 2 to 1 on New York and about 3 to 2 on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 2 to 1 negative on New York, with more than 1 1/2 billion traded, and about 5 to 3 negative on Nasdaq with about 1 2/3 billion traded.

TheTechTrader.com board was mixed but there were some outstanding issues to the plus side.  Acorda Therapeutics (ACOR) exploded mid-day and ran from a low of 12.85 to nearly 17, before backing off, closing at 14.90, still up 1.33 on 18 1/3 million.  China Medical (CMED) was up 1.67.  Fuel Tech (FTEK) had an excellent day, closing near a new 5-month high, up 1.54 on more than 600,000 shares.  DXP Enterprises (DXPE) advanced 1.61, and Align Technology (ALGN) was up 67 cents on 3 Ã,½ million shares.

On the downside, NVE Corp. (NVEC) gave back 1.72 and Baidu.com (BIDU) lost 1.01.  Those were the only point-plus losers.  Other losses of note, I-Flow (IFLO) was down 65 cents, U.S. Global Investors (GROW) 47 cents, II-VI, Inc. (IIVI) 38 cents, and Chindex (CHDX) off 37 cents.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, not much damage was done today as the indices consolidated on some light profit-taking. So the opportunity is still there for further advances as the indices continually are able to hold support without much damage.

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.