China treasury bond futures open lower Thursday

China's treasury bond futures opened lower on Thursday, with contract for settlement in June opening at 92.972 yuan (15.1 U.S. dollars), down 0.018 yuan.

The contract for settlement in September opened down 0.042 yuan at 93.316 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.