China treasury bond futures close mixed Thursday

China's treasury bond futures closed mixed on Thursday, with the contract for settlement in September down 0.02 percent to close at 94.5 yuan (15.36 U.S. dollars).

The contract for settlement in December rose 0.03 percent to close at 94.9 yuan while the contract for March 2015 closed flat at 95.1 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.