Market unlikely to be affected

The stock market is not likely to slump on Monday because of Saturday's magnitude-7 earthquake in Ya'an, Sichuan province, experts say.

"There are fewer than 10 publicly traded companies located around Ya'an. Chengdu-based agricultural company New Hope Group, for example, which has a number of projects in Sichuan, has reported some losses, but these are very limited. So far, only one company listed on the growth enterprise market has reported big losses. Luckily, most of these companies do not have their headquarters in that area," said Wang Jianhui, chief economist at Southwest Securities Co Ltd.

But the market will be slightly affected by geographical and psychological considerations, Wang said. The tourism and catering industries will be hit hard, especially during the May Day holiday, when traffic will be restricted for the sake of quake relief.