It was another up-session for most of the indices except for the NDX despite the fact that the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was up more than 12 today.

The day started out with a gap down. They broke short-term support, headed lower for the first half hour or so, but then bounced sharply, pulled back mid-day and consolidated, and then ran in the afternoon again, taking them up to new rally highs on the S&P and NDX. In the last half hour they had a pullback and a sharp one that took them quite a bit off the highs.

Still, on the day the Dow closed at a new all-time high at 12,803.92, up 31. The S&P 500 was up about a point, and the NDX down 2 Ã,½ today. As mentioned, the SOXX was up 12, although it had been up by as much as 16 at one point.

The technicals were negative by 350 issues on advance-declines on New York and by 580 issues on Nasdaq. That’s pretty poor breadth considering the action. Up/down volume was 8 to 7 negative on New York on total volume of just under 1.6 billion. Nasdaq traded just over 2 billion with almost an exact amount of advancing volume versus declining volume, about a billion each.

TheTechTrader.com board was very mixed and mostly narrowly mixed. There were a few outstanding issues. Avanir Pharmaceuticals (AVNR) exploded today on positive drug news. It gapped up from 1.25 to 3.17 and then ran to as high as 5.53, closing at 5.19, up 3.92 on 85 million shares. Energy Conversion Devices (ENER) in the alternative energy sector jumped to at one point over 40, closing at 39.61, up 1.71 on more than 3 million, the highest in four months.

Some of the solar energy stocks that got hammered yesterday did snap back somewhat but only to a fraction of their losses. Solar Fun Power (SOLF) at 16.02 was up 1.02 on 3 Ã,½ million. JA Solar (JASO) was up 59 cents on 3.2 million.

Other stocks of note, the SMH today advanced nearly a point, up 97 cents due to the big move in the SOXX index, but fell a few cents short of its 6-month high and backed off in the last half hour.

Sigma Designs (SIGM) was up 71 cents today on over 900,000, and INGN was up 38 cents on more than 3 million, although that was about 80 cents higher during the day.

On the downside, Evergreen Solar (ESLR) gave back another 1.26 on nearly 2 million shares, and was the only point-plus loser on my board. Jones Soda (JSDA) was down another 94 cents. Global Solutions (GSOL) fell 52 cents, and Acadia Pharmaceuticals (ACAD) was also down 52 cents.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices spent the early part of the session on the downside and the rest of the session on the upside until late in the day when they backed off again. Net on the day we were near the zero line.

The late sell-off took the gleam off today’s action, and may cause further downside early tomorrow morning. The indices are an indecision mode right now, having been range-bound for the last three sessions.

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.