Asian equities were positioned to extend their advance on Friday as signs of moderating US inflation and a retreat in oil prices strengthened market expectations that the Federal Reserve will avoid raising interest rates next month. Equity-index futures rose in Japan and South Korea, leaving MSCI’s Asia Pacific Index on course for a third straight day of gains, while Australian contracts declined. In the United States, futures edged higher after the S&P 500 gained 0.7% on Thursday to a record and the Nasdaq 100 jumped 1.15% to its highest level since late June, helped by stronger spending from hyperscalers (large cloud-computing companies) that supported technology shares. US crude fell 0.2% early Friday, ending its recent run of gains.