"With regard to the yuan's revaluation, we never make predictions and there is no timetable," a spokesman for the People's Bank of China said, reiterating a standard position.

After a meeting Treasury Secretary John Snow and Greenspan, US Senators Charles Schumer and Lindsey Graham said Thursday they had agreed to shelve a tariff bill set for a vote in July after being convinced a revaluation is coming.

The Senators had been assured that the revaluation "could well occur in a very short while, in the next few months", said Schumer.

He said the top officials had given an undertaking to him and Graham, a Republican, that China should shortly "be on the path to revaluing its currency".

Accordingly, the pair decided to drop their proposal that would have imposed a 27.5 percent tariff on all Chinese exports to the United States unless Beijing quickly took steps to reform its currency regime. A vote had been set for July 27.

China, which keeps its currency effectively pegged at 8.28 yuan to the dollar, has come under sharp criticism from trade partners, especially the United States, for maintaining an exchange rate that is seen as giving its exporters an unfair advantage.

Although Beijing has promised to bring about greater flexibility to its currency regime it has never given a timetable and insists it will not give in to pressure on the issue.

At the same time, however, analysts say that Beijing must have made strong overtures to Washington, assuring the Bush administration that an adjustment is only being held up by the politics of timing.

The World Bank and most international analysts believe that China has completed technical preparations for an adjustment to the yuan that likely could include it being pegging to a basket of currencies rather than just the dollar.

"That China's leadership is committed to revaluation squares with my view," said Tim Condon, chief Asia economist at ING Barings.

"Since May, China has been ready to make to move and Premier Wen Jiabao just got cold feet," Condon added.

A fresh burst of speculation on a revaluation erupted in early May ahead of the labour day holiday, with international banks betting that the change was imminent only to find themselves dissppointed.

News of the US senators decision impacted morning forex trade, with dealers saying it was enough to get the revaluation trade going again.