By Leika Kihara

TOKYO (Reuters) -A hawkish board split at the Bank of Japan’s policy meeting this month has increased pressure on its dovish governor Kazuo Ueda to move faster on interest rate hikes, raising the prospect the next tightening could come as soon as October.

The central bank kept rates steady at 0.5% earlier this month, as expected, but dissenting calls by two board members for a quarter point hike stunned markets and were read as a sign the BOJ was less worried about economic headwinds than first thought.

While it is uncertain whether the move was designed as an intentional signal to markets a rate hike was imminent, veteran BOJ watcher Mari Iwashita said it represented a growing board view that conditions for the next rise were falling into place.

“The dissenters probabl

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