Retaining Unicode Notations

I am trying to transform an XML file containing some unicode notations to
another  XML using Xalan 2.5.2.

During the transformation, all the unicode notations I use in the source XML
is getting converted to corresponding characters. Is there any way I can
disable this behavior? I want the output XML to retain the original unicode
notations.

The XSL I use is say,
-----------------------------------
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version = '1.0'
     xmlns:xsl='http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform'>

 <xsl:output method="xml"/>

 <xsl:template match="root">
  <xsl:element name="newRoot">
   <xsl:apply-templates/>
  </xsl:element>
 </xsl:template>

</xsl:stylesheet>
-----------------------------------

On transforming the XML

-----------------------------------
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<root>&#x00A0;&#x0020;&#x0009;&#x2010;&#x00E1;</root>
-----------------------------------

using the above XSL, I am getting an output

-----------------------------------
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<newRoot>   -a</newRoot>
-----------------------------------

I need an output like

-----------------------------------
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<newRoot>&#x00A0;&#x0020;&#x0009;&#x2010;&#x00E1;</newRoot>
-----------------------------------

Regards,
Bijo

_________________________________
Bijo Alex Thomas
DSRC, 6, Smith Road, Chennai - 2
Mail: bijoalex@xxxxxxxxxx
Website: http://dsrc.com