After opening the day higher, Indian share markets are trading on a flat note. Sectoral indices are trading on a mixed with stocks in the consumer durables sector and information technology sector witnessing maximum buying interest. While power stocks & PSU stocks are trading in the red.

The BSE Sensex is trading higher by 60 points and the NSE Nifty is trading higher by 16 points. The BSE Mid Cap index is trading down by 0.4% while the BSE Small Cap index is trading down by 0.3%. The rupee is trading at 65.22 to the US$.

In news from IPO space, ICICI Securities, a leading securities firm in India, is coming out with its initial public offering (IPO) to raise Rs 40 billion. The issue is scheduled to open on 22 March and close on 26 March 2018.

The price band of the issue is Rs 519-520 per equity share of the company of face value of Rs 5 each.

The IPO consists of an offer for sale of equity shares aggregating up to 77.2 million equity shares of the company by the promoter - ICICI Bank. Of the total issue, 0.39 million shares are reserved for the shareholders of ICICI Bank.

The bids can be made for a minimum of 28 equity shares.

The company offers a wide range of financial services including brokerage, financial product distribution and investment banking and focuses on both retail and institutional clients.

The share is going to list on Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and National Stock exchange (NSE).IIFL Holdings, BofA Merill Lynch, Citi, CLSA, Edelweiss, SBI Capital Market are the book running lead managers to the offer. The registrar to the offer is Karvy Computershare.

To know our view on the above IPO, you can read our IPO note here.

Speaking of IPOs, the demand for IPO's has reached sky-high levels. Avenue Supermarts was seen as the first company last year to cross the 100-time subscription mark swiftly followed by CDSL and Dixon technologies, among others.

IPO Subscription Times (2017)

This euphoria is something similar to what was seen in 2007-08. When everyone around you is clamoring to get a piece of the IPO pie, it makes sitting tight difficult. And, why should you sit tight when stocks like Avenue Supermart lets you pocket a cool 100% gain from day 1 of the listing?

History suggests that these cases are few and far between. More than 70% of the IPOs listed in 2007 and 2008 are in the red, even today when the Sensex is at an all-time high.

A merit-based selection primarily including valuation, business, and management quality is the logical way to go about investing in IPOs. If it means going against the herd, so be it. And going by recent past, this strategy has been proven to be successful more often than not.

In another development, US Federal Reserve officials, meeting for the first time under chairman Jerome Powell, raised the benchmark lending rate a quarter-point and forecast a steeper path of rate hikes in 2019 and 2020, citing an improving economic outlook.

Policy makers continued to project a total of three interest rate hikes this year.

The upward revision in their rate path suggests US Fed officials are looking through soft first-quarter economic reports and expect a lift this year and next from tax cuts passed by Republicans in December.

Financial conditions have tightened since late January as investors look for signs that the central bank might go for rate hikes at a faster pace, while forecasters predict stronger US growth and tight labor markets, the reports noted.

In the forecasts, US Federal Reserve officials projected a median federal funds rate of 2.9% by the end of 2019, implying three rate hikes next year, compared with two 2019 moves seen in the last round of forecasts in December. They saw rates at 3.4% in 2020, up from 3.1% in December, according to the median estimate.