China treasury bond futures end lower Tuesday

China's treasury bond futures closed lower on Tuesday, with the contract for settlement in December 2013, the most actively traded, down 0.074 yuan to close at 93.842 yuan (15.23 U.S. dollars).

The contract for settlement in March 2014 dropped 0.092 yuan to 93.93 yuan, while the contract for settlement in June 2014 edged down 0.066 to 94.008 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.