Asia-Pac central banks call truce on currency war

London

CENTRAL bankers across the Asia-Pacific region are laying down arms in the global currency war as they prepare for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.

By dropping a call for a weaker exchange rate on Tuesday, Reserve Bank of Australia governor Glenn Stevens followed the lead of New Zealand's Graeme Wheeler, who had toned down concern that the kiwi dollar was too strong two weeks earlier. In Japan, Haruhiko Kuroda said last month he had no plans to expand the record monetary stimulus the central bank is pumping into the economy.

This doesn't necessarily mean an end to losses for the currencies of the region's major developed economies. Rather, it shows the prospect of an increase in US interest rates is relieving pressure on peers to loosen policy. Australia's dollar has alread…