It was a strong session Friday to finish the week, but there was some morning volatility, starting out the day with a strong burst to new multi-year highs on the Nasdaq 100.  The S&P 500 got right up to yesterdayââ,¬â"¢s high, but backed off when the NDX also backed off.  They both came down sharply but held yesterday afternoonââ,¬â"¢s pullback lows.  They then started a strong run that went to new session highs.  The S&P 500 got up to 1431, right at that key overhead resistance level.  The indices backed off, but firmed late in the session to close positively.

Net on the day they were up 41 on the Dow, 7 on the S&P, and nearly 10 on the NDX.  The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was up 0.15 but was down most of the session, so weââ,¬â"¢ll consider that an accomplishment.

The technicals confirmed the day, with advance-declines positive by 2 to 1 on New York and 3 to 2 on Nasdaq.  Up/down volume was better than 2 to 1 positive on New York and 2 Ã,½ to 1 positive on Nasdaq.  Total volume on New York was about 1 Ã,½ billion. Nasdaq traded more than 2.1 billion.

TheTechTrader.com board was active and mostly higher, but only narrowly so.  Only one stock advanced as much as a point on our board, and that was Fuwei Films (FFHL), which jumped 1.32 today on more than 2 million shares.  Most Chinese stocks today firmed up off of mid-week losses.

Other Chinese stocks of note, ASIA was up 63 cents, China GrenTech (GRRF) snapped back 60 cents, and several others were up small fractions.

Cleveland Biotech (CBLI) snapped back 87 cents on 1.4 million.  ISIS Pharmaceuticals (ISIS), one of our recent picks, was up 42 cents on 2.2 million.  Lumera (LMRA) gained 41 cents on 1.9 million.  Portfolio position Simpletech (STEC) was up 47 cents, and XM Satellite Radio (XMSR) up 74 cents on more than 19 million shares on rumors of a merger with SIRI.

Level 3 Communications (LVLT) advanced 12 cents to close the week at 6.60, up more than 10 percent since we highlighted last weekend as one of our top Charts of the Week. See the chart that we first published for our subscribers last weekend at http://www.thetechtrader.com/hc/1/2007/12/

On the downside, fractional losses by American Oriental Bioengineering (AOB) down 43 cents, Mamma.com (MAMA) 40 cents, and VASCO Data Security (VDSI) 48 cents led the losers.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the recent powerful Nasdaq 100 advance continued today, and reached new multi-year highs, following through on yesterdayââ,¬â"¢s breakout.

The S&P 500, however, has not confirmed, and so far has still failed to take out the mid-December double-top around 1432, but got very near there today, reaching as high as 1431.23, closing not far off that level.

So weââ,¬â"¢ll see if next week they can punch through and confirm the NDX advance and move the indices higher.

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.