The indices ended positively to start the week, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) leading the way today. But the session was choppy, especially in the morning.

The day started with a surge higher. They came down hard, snapped back to new session and rally highs on the NDX in particular and had a very steep slide for about half an hour early in the morning that took them to the lows for the day. It looked like they were about to break down at that point, but they came back from the abyss, rallied steadily into mid-afternoon, and did one more retest by late afternoon before they rallied right back up to the highs for the day. But they were unable to push through, and pulled back in the last half hour.

Net on the day the Dow was up 38, the S&P 500 a little less than 1 Ã,½, and the Nasdaq 100 up less than 1 point. That was about 7 points off the low. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOXX) was up nearly 6 today and closed not far off the session highs.

The technicals were rather mixed, with advance-declines just 218 issues higher on the NYSE, and negative on Nasdaq by about 75 issues.

The up/down volume was almost exactly flat on the NYSE and just 9 to 8 positive on Nasdaq. Total volume on New York was less than 1 1/3 billion. Nasdaq traded just under 1.8 billion.

TheTechTrader.com board was active & mostly higher. Biotech Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY), on a deal with Roche, advanced nearly 8 points on 8 million shares. JA Solar (JASO) soared 5 Ã,½ on nearly 4 million shares to a new all-time high.

HOKU jumped 1.52, but the star in our portfolio today was Taser (TASR), which gained 2.56 on 17 million shares, the heaviest volume in more than 2 years and closed just a couple pennies off the high for the day going away. It was our Chart of the Day today.

Other stocks of note on the plus side, FFHL jumped 97 cents, CREE 84 cents, and Chindex (CHDX), one of our portfolio holdings, up 85 cents to new multi-month high. Immersion Corp. (IMMR), which was a recently featured Chart of the Week, was up 45 cents to new highs as well, and MEDTOX Scientific (MTOX) gained 86 cents. Rediff.com (REDF), one of our Charts of the Week, gained 64 cents, and Transcend Services (TRCR) to a new all-time high at 23 was up 1.43.

On the downside, NVEC gave back 1.10 and FuelTek (FTEK) got hammered for 1.91. Those were the only point-plus losers on our board today.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the rally since the late June lows continued today, as all indices closed higher across the board, but the technicals were rather mixed and it remains to be seen if they can take out the double tops that were set up today at NDX 1992-3 & SPX 1534. Support at 1982 NDX and 1527 S&P will be carefully monitored, as well.

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.