Wall Street's gains followed rallies for markets across Europe and Asia after the Federal Reserve delivered the first cut to interest rates in more than four years late on Wednesday.

The S&P 500 is hovering just below record territory, driven by a revived rally as bets have grown that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by half a percentage point.

U.S. stock index futures edged lower on Friday, pausing after the previous session's rally set Wall Street's main indexes on track for weekly gains following the Federal Reserve's pivotal stance on monetary policy earlier in the week.

U.S. stock indexes remained stuck in place as Wall Street made few big moves ahead of what’s expected to be the first cut to interest rates in more than four years.

Wall Street is finally confident it knows what the Federal Reserve will do at its policy meeting next week, and a bigger-than-expected interest rate cut may not be a welcome surprise.

Wall Street closed flat on Friday, hovering near the previous session's record-high close for the Dow and S&P 500, while the dollar firmed as investors digested the Federal Reserve's 50-basis-point cut midweek that started a rate reducing cycle.

Wall Street ticked slightly higher as markets awaited an expected interest rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve, the first in more than four years.

Asian stocks surged on Friday with Japan’s Nikkei leading regional gains after Wall Street romped to records following the Federal Reserve’s big cut to interest rates.

Traders in Asia will also look toward August consumer prices index from Japan and Hong Kong, and central bank decisions from Bank of Japan and People's Bank of China.

Japan's Nikkei share average jumped more than 2 per cent in the morning session on Friday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street, while traders also kept a wary eye ahead of the Bank of Japan's policy decision later in the day.