China treasury bond futures open lower Friday

China's treasury bond futures opened lower on Friday, with the contract for settlement in December, the most actively traded, opening 0.402 yuan lower at 90.998 yuan (14.86 U.S. dollars).

The contract for settlement in March 2014 dropped 0.036 yuan to open at 91.840 yuan, while the contract for settlement in June 2014 edged down 0.070 yuan to open at 92.306 yuan.

The contracts are agreements to buy or sell treasury bonds at a predetermined price and set date. They allow investors to bet on or 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.