China treasury bond futures close higher

China's treasury bond futures closed higher on Thursday, with the contract for settlement in December 2013, the most actively traded, closing at 93.740 yuan (15.383 U.S. dollars), up 0.214 yuan.

The contract for settlement in March 2014 gained 0.208 yuan to close at 93.956 yuan while the contract for settlement in June 2014 edged up 0.056 yuan to finish at 94.002 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.