The indices managed to extend the gains.  At the close the blue chip indices were up just nominally, although Nasdaq did have a decent day, fueled by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) index today.

The day started out with some backing and filling in the morning.  They had a mid-morning rally that took the NDX out above its 1690 double-top from last week and extended the 2 Ã,½-month rally to new highs, eventually getting to just under 1700, at 1698.38, todayââ,¬â"¢s high.  The S&P 500 similarly advanced but could not take out its high from last week, and both indices pulled back over the last hour with a slight firming over the last 15 min.

Net on the day, the Dow was up just 7.60, the S&P 500 up a little more than 1, the Nasdaq 100 up 6 Ã,¼, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) index advanced more than 5 points today, helping Nasdaq.  The technicals were positive by 3 to 2 on advance-declines on both exchanges, and up/down volume was positive as well by about 3 to 2 on New York and a little less than 2 to 1 on Nasdaq.

Total volume was about 1 Ã,¼ billion on New York, and about 1.46 billion on Nasdaq on a Columbus Day semi-holiday.

TheTechTrader.com board was mostly higher. The leader by far today on our board was U.S. Global Investors (GROW), which advanced 3.12 on more than 1 million shares.  On the downside, Akamai (AKAM) dropped 1.31.

Those were the only point-plus movers on my board.

Other gainers of note, DXP Enterprises (DXPE) advanced 73 cents, Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) 65 cents, IIVI 53 cents, Interphase (INPH) 94 cents, ININ 67 cents, PW Eagle (PWEI) 87 cents, TASR 54 cents, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) 44 cents.

ANGN also had a strong day today, up 77 cents on 1.1 million.  Acorda Therapeutics (ACOR) as well was up 60 cents on more than 10 million shares, but closed about 1.70 off its earlier high.

On the downside, other than Akamai, Chindex (CHDX) lost 51 cents, BITS 48 cents, and NVE Corp. (NVEC) 31 cents.  All other losses were just nominal.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the Nasdaq 100 bumped up against its major intermediate rising channel top and backed off late in the session.  The S&P failed to take out last weekââ,¬â"¢s highs, falling short before pulling back late in the session.

So, weââ,¬â"¢ll have to see if the rally can extend tomorrow, or whether they finally will take out significant support.  The KEY short term support levels weââ,¬â"¢ll be watching are NDX 1677-78 and the SPX 1344 area.

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.