NEW YORK — The dollar sputtered Tuesday on the eve of a US decision on monetary policy, while the yen rose sharply on risk aversion after weaker-than-expected economic data from China.

The euro edged up to 1.4150 dollars at 2100 GMT from 1.4135 dollars in New York late on Monday.

The dollar fell to 95.99 yen from 97.17 yen late Monday.

Financial markets were awaiting the outcome of the US Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting, which kicked off on Tuesday.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) gathering is widely anticipated to hold its key federal funds rate unchanged at a historically low range of zero to 0.25 percent to spur lending and economic activity.

Investors are watching to see whether it will give any hints about how long it will continue its highly stimulative monetary policy.

Although the dollar has been weakened by low rates, some analysts say this will not continue indefinitely.

"Long-term expectations for higher interest rates could drive demand for the dollar as market participants anticipate the central bank to tighten policy over the next 12 months," said David Song at Forex Capital Markets.

The dollar had jumped in value last Friday on news that the US unemployment rate fell to 9.4 percent in July as job losses in the month narrowed to 247,000.

The better-than-expected numbers sparked hope of an end to the deep US recession.

"The expected better performance of the US economy against that of the eurozone therefore is one of our most important arguments supporting our expectation of a dollar appreciation," said Commerzbank analyst Ulrich Leuchtmann.

Jon Gencher at BMO Capital Markets said that "the market still seems to be in the midst of a consolidative phase ahead of tomorrow's FOMC rate decision."

But he argued that "in the short term it looks as though the market's bias is to take the dollar higher."

"Although the dollar got a real boost on the back of Friday?s employment data the impetus for the next move doesn't appear to be coming from dollar strength, but more potential weakness in some of the other majors," Gencher added.

In Asia on Tuesday, a slew of Chinese economic figures disappointed markets, supporting the safe-haven yen and also pressuring risky currencies such as the commodity-linked Australian dollar, dealers said.

China's industrial output expanded 10.8 percent in July from a year earlier, official figures showed, but the market had expected a sharper rise.

Exports fell 23 percent on the year and consumer prices continued to drop, according to the data.

"Risk aversion and safe haven are still dominating currency moves in Asia," said Antonio Febres at PNC Bank.

Traders gave a muted response after the Bank of Japan kept its key interest rate steady at 0.1 percent as it wrapped up a two-day monetary policy meeting.

In late New York trade, the dollar stood at 1.0815 Swiss francs from 1.0851 Monday.

The pound was at 1.6478 dollars after 1.6467.

Pakistan national junior champion Asjad Iqbal is drawn in group ‘E’ while Hamza Akbar is placed in group ‘G’.

Forty-eight cueists from 18 countries, including eight from the host country Iran, are taking part in the event.

Two top players, after the round robin league, from each group will qualify for pre-quarter-finals.

Groups:

‘A’: Shaheen Al Shaheen (Kuwait), Chuang Liu (China), Ali Jalil Ali (Iraq), Ali Obaidly (Qatar), Hussain Mahmood Ali (Bahrain), Iran No.5.

‘B’: Samer Kamal (Egypt), Shravan Mohta (India), Nabih Nasser (Lebanon), Nidhal Albaqshi (Saudi Arabia), Saker Razouk (Syria), Iran No.1.

‘C’: Imad Al-Tayab (Iraq), Kurt Brown (Australia), Mohamed Ibrahim (Egypt), Ayoub Matook (Lybia), Karam Fatima (Syria), Iran No.2.

‘D’: Kim Do-Hoon (South Korea), Vivek Chopra (India), Charles Chafe (Australia), Abdel Baset Beshir (Lybia), Noppon Saengkham (Thailand), Iran No.7.

‘E’: Yan Li (China), Abdulazid Al Bader (Kuwait), Mohammad Berjawi (Lebanon), Asjad Iqbal (Pakistan), Mohammed Alsofi (Syria), Iran No. 8.

‘F’: Ibrahim Suhail Al Khalfan (Bahrain), Shahbaaz Adil Khan (India), Mohana Obaidly (Qatar), Abdullah Al Shaikh (Saudi Arabia), Yuttapop Pakpoj (Thailand), Iran No. 3.

‘G’: Mazen Berjawi (Lebanon), Mohamed Al Muosawi (Bahrain), Adam Korwash (Lybia), Hamza Akbar (Pakistan), Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon (Thailand), Iran No.6.

‘H’: Abdulrahman Alammar (Saudi Arabia), Fady Mahmoud (Egypt), Hanqing Shi (China), Bogdan Cozmaciuc (Romania), Khalid Ali Kamali (UAE), Iran No.4.

The chaos over the controversial "supersuits" that has engulfed yesterday continued a suffered his first defeat in five years in the 200m freestyle just after the world governing body announced it would ban the costumes.

Britain's Gemma Spofforth won gold at the world championships in the women's 100m backstroke, setting a world record in the process, but the defeat of Phelps sent shockwaves through the sport and his coach, Bob Bowman, said the American would not swim again until the issue was resolved. "Bob sorts my schedule," confirmed a distraught Phelps. Both Phelps and Spofforth were wearing Speedo LZR suits, which are being superceded by the new generation of wetsuit-style costumes made by adidas, Arena and others. From next year all will become illegal but Phelps was beaten by Paul Biedermann, a German wearing an Arena X-glide suit. Bowman said that Fina had better "do something or they're going to lose their guy who fills these seats."

The new regulations announced yesterday will limit the size of the suits and restrict the materials from which they are made to "textiles". There are numerous difficulties with the decision. First, Fina, the sport's governing body, cannot say when these changes will occur, their heavily-qualified estimate being "by April 2010". And secondly, Fina has yet to reveal what the term "textiles" actually means. Additionally, the rule change is in effect only a bye-law, which means the decision can be reversed at any point.

Fina insists that will not happen but it has already banned the new generation of swimsuits once this year only to change its mind after coming under heavy pressure from manufacturers and sponsors. Controversially, the records set in the new suits will stand. Fifteen world records have been set so far in Rome but not all in the new generation of suits. "Remember," said Fina's executive director Cornel Marculescu last night, "the world records are being broken here because these people are fantastic athletes."

Tell that to Michael Phelps. The greatest Olympian swimmer in history with 14 golds was not just beaten in the 200m, he was thrashed. Biedermann shattered Phelps' world mark of 1min 42. 96sec with a time of 1min 42sec. Phelps said: "I look forward to racing Biedermann next summer. It will be fun when swimming gets back to swimming." Of his race, done in a time of 1:43.22, Phelps added: "Theoretically it was a pretty good swim for me. Three tenths off my best time after taking six months off. I'm not happy but I know I didn't train much this year."Biedermann was understandably ecstatic, saying: "It's still hard for me to believe that I defeated a legend like Phelps. It is true that he has been training only for six months and he is not the same as at the Beijing Olympics. But the German team which I am part of is great." Biedermann finished a distant fifth behind Phelps in the 200m final in Beijing. Ten months on he trimmed four full seconds from his time.

The technology has moved on so quickly that Phelps' Speedo LZR seems almost obsolete. Or it did until the very next race, when Spofforth broke the world record by 0.36 of a second with a time of 58.12sec. It was the first gold won by a swimmer in a Speedo suit in Rome. The LZR is only partially polyurethane, whereas the new suits are fully coated with the material. That makes them water-impermeable, adding a huge amount of buoyancy.

He may well stay that way too, because Fina's announcement has taken back the technology used in swimming by a full decade. Marculescu insisted the sport was "evolving" but in truth it is a regression. With the new restrictions in place it will be a long time before anyone swims as fast as many have at these championships