China's stock market will remain closed until next Monday after authorities extended the Lunar New Year holiday by three days to halt the spread of the novel coronavirus.

File photo: VCG

In separate statements, the Shenzhen and Shanghai stock exchanges said trading is now scheduled to resume on February 3. Both markets have been closed from January 24 for the holiday and were initially planned to reopen on January 31.

The bourses said that resumption of trading for the stock connect programs, which link the mainland markets with the Hong Kong bourse, will also be postponed until February 3. Hong Kong's stock market is scheduled to reopen on Wednesday.

Listed companies that are due to publish their 2019 earnings estimates by January 31 are allowed to delay the reports till February 3, the statements add.

From January 20 through 21, the prices of catering and tourism stocks plummeted for two consecutive days in the A-share market to end up with a steep decline of more than 6 percent.

While the domestic markets are closed, investors abroad have been spooked by worries of the viral disease weighing on global economic growth. Major U.S. indices suffered their worst session thus far in 2020 and followed European and Asian bourses lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling by 1.6 percent on Tuesday.

Companies led by travel and consumer services have widely suffered a slump as China banned outbound tour groups since Monday.

China's National Health Commission said a total of 5,974 cases of novel coronavirus were confirmed in the Chinese mainland as of 24:00 on Tuesday, with the death toll standing at 132.

China has instructed kindergartens, schools and universities to postpone reopening to limit the spread of the virus.