China treasury bond futures open lower Thursday

China's treasury bond futures opened lower on Thursday, with the contract for settlement in December 2013, the most actively traded one, opening 0.006 yuan lower at 93.800 yuan (15.29 U.S. dollars).

The contract for settlement in March 2014 opened 0.060 yuan lower at 93.880 yuan, while the contract for settlement in June 2014 opened at 94.008 yuan, down 0.028 yuan.

The contracts are agreements to buy or sell treasury bonds at a predetermined price and set date. They allow investors to bet on and profit from the movements in the value of the bonds.

The treasury bond futures were launched at the Shanghai-based China Financial Futures Exchange (CFFEX) and started trading on Sept. 6, 2013.

The CFFEX set the base value for the December 2013 contract at 94.168 yuan, the March 2014 contract at 94.188 yuan and the June 2014 contract at 94.218 yuan.