NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Technology stocks ended modestly lower Tuesday after struggling much of the afternoon as lingering security fears cramped investor optimism.

Israel on Monday killed a senior member of Hamas, stoking fears the Palestine-based militant group may retaliate against U.S. interests. The United States proclaimed it had no advance notice of Israel's plans but many in the Arab world believed otherwise.

The tech-laced Nasdaq composite index fell 8.10 points--less than a percent--to 1,901.80, after having fallen 30.56 points on Monday.

The Philadelphia semiconductor index dipped 1.44 points to 457.46 and the Amex technology index lost 1.86 points to 657.99.

PalmOne Inc. was one of the Nasdaq's biggest gainers a day after the handheld computer maker posted better-than-expected third-quarter results.

PalmOne late Monday said its quarterly loss narrowed to $9.3 million, or 20 cents a share, compared to a net loss of $172.3 million, or $5.93 a share, a year earlier.

Strong sales of its Treo 600 combination phone and digital organizer boosted revenue nearly 23 percent to $242.5 million from $197.9 million last year.

On Tuesday, Bear Stearns upped its investment rating on PalmOne (PLMO: Research, Estimates) shares to "peer perform" from "underperform," which ended the day nearly 30 percent higher to $17.99.

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A handful of Taiwanese ADRs recouped some of the losses they incurred in the previous session as President Chen Shui-bian challenged allegations that polls were rigged in a highly-contested election.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSM: Research, Estimates) advanced 6.5 percent to $9.90 as fellow chip makers United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC: Research, Estimates) rose 3.3 percent to $5.05 and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Co. (SMI: Research, Estimates) gained 7.4 percent to $14.60. All three companies trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

News that Chief Operating Officer Michael A. Ruffolo would leave Akamai (AKAM: Research, Estimates) effective April 9, knocked shares of the computer services firm 10 percent lower to $12.68 on the Nasdaq.

No replacement will be named, the company said in a press release.