After surpassing Google-owned Orkut, Facebook has become the number one social networking site in the country.

A survey conducted recently showed that Facebook held a leadership position in India.

The 30-share index Sensex climbed up during the noon trade after registering a gain of 76 points.

The hefty buying activity was witnessed across FMCG, banking and automobile stocks.

The BSE Sensex traded in the range-bound manner during the opening session.

Kolkata-based KKN Group has made entry in the steel making business after getting hold of Balaji Ispat Pvt. Ltd.

The above declaration was made by the company's top representative on Wednesday.

The BSE Sensex gained 234.79 points (1.29%) to 18,401.82, and the broad-based Nifty surged 78.55 points (1.44%) to 5,530.65 during the week ended yesterday.

On the second last day of the week, Sensex hit a 30-month peak of 18,454.94.

On Friday, the 30-share index dropped by 53 points.

But, the stock market gained on continued buying action by foreign funds.

Orient Green Power Company Ltd is all set to lift up its installed capacity to 1,000 MW within and outside the country by the next three years (2013).

The Rs 276 crore-equity Orient Green would spend around Rs 40 billion to attain this objective.

At present, the company has an installed capacity of 193 MW.

According to recent reports, prices of the yellow metal continued its rising trend for ten consecutive day hitting about Rs 19,000 per ten-gram (10 gram) level.

The gold remained up on the back of hefty demand by stockists as well as jewelry makers for the upcoming festival season.

The Sensex remained negative during noon in today's session.

The majority of other Asian bourses also looked weak.

Banking, IT and telecom scrips were topping the declining charts.

Earlier, the 30-share index jumped into the positive for a short period from its opening lows.

Intel Corporation, the world's biggest computer chip manufacturer, is all set to get hold of internet security firm McAfee for around $7.68 billion.

Quoting a value of $48 a share, the world's biggest computer chip manufacturer is paying up a premium of 60% over the value at which the security-maker's stock marked its closure on August 19.

Allahabad Bank, one of the public sector banking institutions in the country, has inked an agreement with commercial vehicle manufacturing company Ashok Leyland for automobile financing.

According to company's declaration, this affiliation would help the bank's clients across India to buy medium and heavy commercial vehicles under the plan known as "Commercial Vehicle Finance Scheme".

For its wholly-owned arm, the Sadbhav Infrastructure Project Limited (SIPL), infrastructure giant Sadbhav Engineering Ltd has roped in total investment worth Rs 400 crore from The Xander Group and Norwest Venture Partners.

The said investment will offer up Sadbhav Engineering an enhanced opportunity to bid for a range of infrastructure projects.