China treasury bond futures open lower Thursday

China's treasury bond futures opened lower on Thursday, with contract for settlement in March 2014 opening at 91.816 yuan (15.02 U.S. dollars). The contracts for settlement in June opened lower at 92.362 yuan. And the contracts for settlement in September opened lower at 92.7 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.