"The market will continue to swing within a boxed range below 1,900 points for some time," said Lee Kyoung-soo, a market analyst at Shinyoung Securities, citing cautious optimism amid persistent uncertainty in Europe. Deep divisions between France and Germany mean they will make scant progress in strengthening the euro zone bailout fund at a summit on Sunday in a sign that Europe's leaders are still some way from getting a grip on the bloc's debt crisis. Foreign investors were sellers of a net 38.3 billion won ($33.4 million) worth of stocks, poised to offload shares for a third straight session. Retail investors were buyers of a net 160.3 billion won, purchasing stocks for a fourth straight session. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) was up 1.1 percent at 1,824.97 points as of 0136 GMT. LG Display spiked nearly 8 percent despite reporting a record quarterly loss after the market close on Thursday, amid hopes that the worst may be over for the panel industry beset by oversupply and weak demand, analysts said. "The most positive factor is that LG Display said it would not build additional manufacturing facilities, which should help ease oversupply," said Hwang Joon-ho, an analyst at Daewoo Securities, also citing expectations for next-generation displays set to be introduced next year. LG Electronics , the world's No.3 handset maker, rallied 6 percent and Hynix Semiconductor , the world's No.2 memory chip maker, advanced 5.9 percent. Construction stocks rose amid hopes the business would resume again in Libya after news of Muammar Gaddafi's death. "It might take some time to restore order and safety in Libya but stalled construction projects are expected to resume next year," said Yoon Jin-il, an analyst at IBK Securities. Yoon said Hyundai Engineering & Construction and Daewoo Engineering & Construction each had outstanding construction projects in Libya worth around 1 trillion to 2 trillion won. Hyundai surged 5.3 percent and Daewoo jumped 6.9 percent. But shares related to STX Group, a shipbuilding-focused conglomerate, tumbled amid market talk it was facing financial strains, analysts said. Suh Jung-duk, an analyst at Meritz Securities, said the rumours lacked specifics. STX Offshore & Shipbuilding fell 6.3 percent and STX Corp shed 5.8 percent.