China Hushen 300 index futures open higher Wednesday

China's key Hushen 300 index futures opened higher on Wednesday, with the contract for settlement in January 2016 up 0.26 percent to open at 3,817.8 points.

The March 2016 contract gained 0.83 percent to open at 3,743 points. The June 2016 contract opened 0.65 percent higher at 3,609.8 points.

The stock-index contracts, agreements to buy or sell the Hushen 300 Index at a present value on an agreed date, are designed to allow investors to bet on and profit from either gains or declines in the market.

The index futures were launched at the China Financial Futures Exchange and started trading from April 16, 2010. The CFFEX has set the base value for all the four contracts at 3,399 points.

The Hushen 300 Index samples about a fifth of the total stocks listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses.