The four-year synchronization among developed-world central banks might be about to weaken as domestic drivers take over from global trends in determining price outlooks.

A pioneer of inflation targeting in the early 1990s, New Zealand has a knack of setting trends in monetary policy. And it may do so again by snapping the policy uniformity, with traders pricing the possibility of an interest-rate hike that ANZ Bank economists say could come as soon as Feb. 28.

There¡¯s potential for the convergence trend to crack elsewhere too. In the U.S., proof that inflation remains sticky and the labor market sound has convinced traders to embrace the Federal Reserve¡¯s pushback against market bets on near-term easing.