Central banks\\\' meetings to set stage for parting of ways

LONDON, Aug 3 (Reuters): After the Federal Reserve maintained its path towards raising US interest rates next year, other major central banks will jostle for space on a crowded stage this week.

The European Central Bank, Bank of Japan, Bank of England and the central banks of India and Australia all hold meetings. While imminent action is unlikely, the time when policy settings start pointing in different directions is nearing.

US growth rebounded in the second quarter and the Fed upgraded its assessment of the economy last week. It is on course to stop creating money in October but the expectation is that there will be no interest rate rise before mid-2015.

That puts the Bank of England in pole position to be the first major central bank to push rates up from their record low 0.5 per cent, perhaps before the year is out.