The indices managed to get together a late afternoon push and move into the plus column, but overall it was a pretty unimpressive session.

The day opened with a gap down due to a big loss in China overnight, but the indices quickly rallied to resistance. At that point they came back down and retested, and then meandered for several hours before pushing higher late in the session. In the last hour or so the indices moved to the highs for the day, with the S&P 500 coming within 0.03 of Friday’s all-time high before a late last 10-minute pullback brought them back a little bit.

Net on the day the Dow was up just 8 Ã,¼, the S&P 500 up 2.84, and the Nasdaq 100 5 1/2. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was up 0.46.

The technicals were positive by 3 to 2 on advance-declines on New York, but only ahead by a little more than 100 issues on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was 7 to 5 positive on total volume of a little less than 1 1/3 billion. Nasdaq traded 1.8 billion with a 5 to 4 positive ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was mixed. The point-plus gainers were Trascend Services (TRCR) at 19.20, up 2.37. DXP Enterprises (DXPE) at 48.65 was up 1.20. Portfolio position DG FastChannel (DGIT) at 22.05 was up 1.04.

FuelTek (FTEK) soared past 29 and fell just short of its all-time high, up 81 cents. Chindex (CHDX) advanced 57 cents, MEDTOX Scientific (MTOX), one of our Charts of the Week, was up 66 cents. Portfolio position Research Frontiers (REFR) was up 49 cents, and Sigma Designs (SIGM) advanced 45 cents in front of tonight’s earnings release.

On the downside, Force Protection (FRPT) got hammered by 3 on 7 Ã,½ million shares today, and Jones Soda (JSDA) lost another 85 cents. Novacea (NOVC) fell 89 cents, and portfolio position Spectrum Control (SPEC) was down 47 cents.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, more consolidation today until the late rally brought them back up near the highs. It’s going to be interesting to see if they can push through resistance at 1941 NDX and 1540 Ã,½ on the S&P, not far from where they closed.

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.