China treasury bond futures close lower Thursday

China's treasury bond futures closed lower on Thursday, with the contract for settlement in March 2014, the most actively traded, down 0.154 yuan to close at 91.640 yuan (15.01 U.S. dollars).

The contract for settlement in June 2014 closed at 92.238 yuan, down 0.102 yuan while the contract for settlement in September 2014 also went down 0.054 yuan to end at 92.506 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.