The indices ended narrowly mixed, although the session was very different in the morning. They had a sharp move off the get-go that faded quickly and retested the lows successfully. When that occurred the market started a three-wave rally from mid-morning to early afternoon that carried all the indices to new snapback rally highs, but fell short of key overhead resistance at 1920 NDX and 1520 SPX.

In the afternoon, they sold off when they were unable to break through to the upside and closed near the session lows on the Nasdaq 100 and at the afternoon lows on the S&P 500.

Net on the day the Dow was up just half a point, the S&P 500 1 Ã,½, and the Nasdaq 100 down 4.30. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was down 2 points.

The technicals were flat on the NYSE, with advance-declines ahead by just 6 issues. Up/down volume was ahead by about a half million shares on total volume of about 1.3 billion. Nasdaq had 250 more decliners and about a 5 to 3 negative ratio of declining volume over advancing volume, on a little more than 1.6 billion traded.

TheTechTrader.com board was mostly narrowly mixed. Medivation (MDVN) had a stellar day on positive drug news, gapping up and running hard, had a high of over 23 in the pre-market, a 21.85 high in regular hours, but closed at 19.80, up 3.62 on 12.8 million.

Taser (TASR), one of our portfolio stocks and Charts of the Week, was up 1 today on 7 Ã,½ million, breaking out to new 2-year highs, and Transcend Services (TRCR), continuing the recent gains of late, was up 1.37. TRCR was our Chart of the Day, and you can view our chart presentation on the stock at http://www.thetechtrader.com/info/charts/index.php?id=41

Other gainers of note, NVE Corp. (NVEC) gained 88 cents, PRG-Schultz International (PRGX) 37 cents, Sigma Designs (SIGM) 39 cents, and Industrial Services of America (IDSA) 94 cents. Color Kinetics (CLRK), one of our portfolio positions, gained 75 cents.

On the downside, there were just fractional losses across the board.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were up in the morning, down in the afternoon and closed poorly but mixed on the session, and we’ll see if there’s any downside follow-through tomorrow and/or retesting of lower levels.

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.