Unit Trust officials disclosed that on Monday a total of Rs 44 crore worth of repurchases had taken place in US-64. The amount split equally between individuals and corporates. A total of 4,000 investors had opted for redemption.

On Tuesday, a large number of investors had gathered outside UTI offices at Ghatkopar and Churchgate in Mumbai. Some of these investors had also queued up for the repurchase of Masterplus, which opened after a span of seven years.

Although the figures for Tuesday would be known only by Wednesday, UTI officials said that it would be higher. "The number of people seeking repurchase has gone up today, but there is nothing alarming. In the first week of the month repurchases are high, and the last week sees higher sales. Thenegative news about US-64 has had an impact, but we expect investors to realise the true picture shortly," an Unit Trust official said.

In contrast to the first two days of October, UTI had faced repurchases of around Rs 50-60 crore in the month of September against an inflow of Rs 300 crore in its flagship scheme US-64. The trust has faced repurchases of around Rs 500 crore in US-64 from July to September as against an inflow of Rs 3,600 crore during the same period.

The trust had mobilised Rs 3,100 crore in July at the special sale price of Rs 14, Rs 200 crore in the month of August at a sale price of Rs 14.25 and Rs 300 crore in the month of September at a sale price of Rs 14.40. UTI has kept a sale price of Rs 14.55 for the month of October.

Meanwhile, after the 224-point crash in Sensex on Monday, pivotals staged a modest rally and Sensex gained 42 points on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today, thanks to institutions and purchases by bear operators to cover their short-sold positions.

UTI isbelieved to have bought shares worth Rs 150 crore from the stock exchanges. Sensex (BSE sensitive index) recovered smartly from the session's low of 2820.77 points to cross the 2900 mark to finish at 2919.74 points, thus showing a net gain of 42 points over the previous close of 2878.07 points. The BSE-100 index gained 18.57 points to 1302.85 from the previous level of 1284.28.