The government announced a package of measures Tuesday to stabilize the volatile stock market, including suspending sales of government-held shares.
Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa, just back from the Group of Seven finance ministers' meeting in Washington, said the government may even step up buying of financial shares if companies become unstable.
"If the situation changes, we will take appropriate measures at an appropriate time," he said at his regularly scheduled news conference. "But for the time being, our policy is to suspend sales of what we have."