=== modified file 'lisp/ChangeLog'
--- lisp/ChangeLog	2012-11-30 04:44:52 +0000
+++ lisp/ChangeLog	2012-11-30 06:08:20 +0000
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+2012-11-30  Jambunathan K  <kjambunathan@gmail.com>
+
+	* icomplete.el (icomplete-first-match): New face.
+	(icomplete-completions): Use it (bug#12638).
+
 2012-11-30  OKAZAKI Tetsurou  <okazaki.tetsurou@gmail.com>  (tiny change)
 
 	* vc/vc.el (vc-register): Allow registering a file which is

=== modified file 'lisp/icomplete.el'
--- lisp/icomplete.el	2012-11-29 21:32:24 +0000
+++ lisp/icomplete.el	2012-11-30 06:01:14 +0000
@@ -76,6 +76,11 @@
   :type 'string
   :version "24.3")
 
+(defface icomplete-first-match  '((t :weight bold))
+  "Face used by icomplete for highlighting the first match."
+  :version "24.3"
+  :group 'icomplete)
+
 ;;;_* User Customization variables
 (defcustom icomplete-prospects-height
   ;; 20 is an estimated common size for the prompt + minibuffer content, to
@@ -377,6 +382,13 @@ are exhibited within the square braces.)
 		     (if (< prospects-len prospects-max)
 			 (push comp prospects)
 		       (setq limit t))))))
+	(setq prospects (nreverse prospects))
+	;; Highlight first of the prospects.
+	(when (and prospects (not most-is-exact))
+	  (let ((first (copy-sequence (pop prospects))))
+	    (put-text-property 0 (length first)
+			       'face 'icomplete-first-match first)
+	    (push first prospects)))
         ;; Restore the base-size info, since completion-all-sorted-completions
         ;; is cached.
         (if last (setcdr last base-size))
@@ -386,8 +398,7 @@ are exhibited within the square braces.)
 		    (and most-is-exact
                          (substring icomplete-separator
                                     (string-match "[^ ]" icomplete-separator)))
-		    (mapconcat 'identity (nreverse prospects)
-                               icomplete-separator)
+		    (mapconcat 'identity prospects icomplete-separator)
 		    (and limit (concat icomplete-separator "…"))
 		    "}")
 	  (concat determ " [Matched]"))))))