China treasury bond futures open higher Thursday

China's treasury bond futures opened higher on Thursday, with contract for settlement in March opening 0.728 yuan higher at 93 yuan (15.19 U.S. dollars).

The June contract opened 0.236 yuan higher at 93.12 yuan, while the September contract opened 0.052 yuan higher at 93.346 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.