TOKYO - The dollar jumped against the yen and euro in Asia on Friday as stocks rebounded on hopes of a new US government plan to rescue troubled financial firms, traders said.

The dollar was up to 106.94 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade, from 105.37 in New York late Thursday.

The euro fell to 1.4180 dollars from 1.4348 dollars while firming to 151.63 yen from 151.21.

The dollar gained strength after turbulence as stock markets bounced back to allow some risk-taking, said Kenichi Yumoto, vice president at Societe Generale's foreign exchange sales and trading department.

Investors were waiting to hear new developments after reports that the US government was preparing a lifeline to wipe out the bad debt that has weighed on banks and set off the current financial crisis.

There are market expectations about the program and it is naturally a positive thing for the US authorities to opt to take concrete action, Yumoto said.

But he warned it would not be so easy to quell market worries over the global financial system.

We can't expect new measures to have immediate, drastic effects, Yumoto said. It is hard to imagine the market turbulence will come to an end soon.

The dollar has been under pressure for the last several days in reaction to major upheavals in the US banking and insurance sectors that have prompted controversial and costly government intervention.

The US Federal Reserve on Thursday joined central banks around the world to provide more than 300 billion dollars to keep credit flowing through jittery global money markets.

Global stocks took another frantic ride Thursday with nervous New York traders mounting a strong late-day rally on hopes of the new US program.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average vaulted 3.86 percent while the Tokyo Stock Exchange's key Nikkei-225 index gained some three percent by mid-morning Friday.

The dollar was mixed in regional Asian trade. It fell to 32.19 Taiwan dollars from 32.28, to 1,141.15 South Korean won from 1,150.75, to 46.66 Philippine pesos from 47.26 and to 9,372.50 Indonesian rupiah from 9,417.50.

But the greenback edged up to 34.18 Thai baht from 34.16 and to 1.4356 Singapore dollars from 1.4344.. watch video.