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Technical Trader Closing Brief

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Indices Rally From Early Losses to Close Nearly Flat

Thu, Nov 19 2009, 06:27 GMT
by Harry Boxer

The Technical Trader

The indices managed to come back again in the afternoon to close just beneath the flatline and positive on the OEX. But it was a generally narrowly mixed picture at the close.

The day started out with a gap down and a very sharp slide that severely tested support at 1790 NDX and 1102 SPX. They then had a sharp rebound back, but rolled over and retested the lows, made nominal new lows on the NDX but failed to confirm on the SPX. When that occurred they had a nice snapback in the last 2-3 hours that brought the indices back up to their rally highs but beneath the session highs.

Net on the day the Dow was down just 11.11 at 10,426 and change, the S&P 500 down 52 cents at 1109.80, and the Nasdaq 100 down 10.47 at 1801.7.

Advance-declines were negative by about 260 issues on New York and by nearly 600 issues on Nasdaq. Up/down volume was just barely to the plus side on New York on total volume of just over 1 billion. Nasdaq traded just over 1.95 billion and had an 11 to 8 negative volume ratio.

TheTechTrader.com board was very mixed. The star of the day today was China Green Agriculture (CGA), which exploded for 3.51 to 16.63 on 3.88 million shares.

Other point-plus gainers of note, Genco (GNK) in the very strong shipping sector advanced 1.04 to 28.25, and Excel Maritime (EXM) 1.05 to 8.40.

SmartHeat (HEAT) at 13.80 was up 1.31, and the Direxion Financial Bull 3x Shares (FAS) at 80.54 up 1.58. Those were the only point-plus gainers.

Among the fractional gainers, Canadian Solar (CSIQ) added 51 cents to 20.62, Netlist (NLST) snapped back a solid 73 cents to 4.83 on 12 1/2 million, and Westport Innovations (WPRT) jumped 47 cents to 12.55.

On the downside, Nanometrics (NANO) got hammered on profit-taking, down 1.89 to 11.19, and RINO International (RINO) 1.05 to 28.14. Those were the only point-plus losers on our board.

Among the fractional losers, Human Genome Sciences (HGSI) gave back 92 cents to 27.84, Kongzhong Corp. (KONG) 57 cents to 14.42, Sonic Solutions (SNIC) 53 cents to 8.95, and Sinovac (SVA) 54 cents to 7.70.

Stepping back and reviewing the hourly chart patterns, the indices were down early, came back up to retrace part of that decline, and then a retest of the lows, which was successful, resulted in the last late afternoon rally that brought them back near the flat line.

The patterns of the last three days are orderly, constructive, and likely bullish, and may result in more upside. But key levels we'll be watching are resistance at 1813-14 on the NDX and support at 1790-92.

On the S&P 500, resistance is at 1112-14 and support at the 1102 zone. We'll see which way they resolve over the next couple sessions, which should be interesting especially with options expiration on Friday.

We'll be at the Traders Expo in Las Vegas late Thursday and all day Friday. Hope to see some of you there!

Published on  Thu, Nov 19 2009, 06:27 GMT