Japan Yosano: No plan to ask BOJ to buy ETFs

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TOKYO, March 3 (Reuters) - The Japanese government has no plan to ask the Bank of Japan to buy exchange-traded funds, Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano said on Tuesday.

Yosano made the remark during a parliamentary committee session when asked if he has such a plan in mind to prop up Tokyo's flagging share prices.

Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa also said at the same parliamentary session that he has not received such a request from the government.

Shirakawa said the central bank would need to consider how such a step could impact the market, including the risk that stock buying directly from the market could hurt market functioning.

The Japanese central bank decided last month to buy up to 1 trillion yen ($10.27 billion) of shares held by Japanese banks to help reduce the risk stemming from banks' exposure to share markets. (Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto)