China treasury bond futures close lower

China's treasury bond futures closed lower on Thursday, with the contract for settlement in December 2013, the most actively traded, down 0.242 yuan to close at 91.368 yuan (14.91 U.S. dollars).

The contract for settlement in March 2014 closed at 91.824 yuan, down 0.352 yuan while the contract for settlement in June 2014 edged down 0.354 yuan to finish at 92.310 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.