China's treasury bond futures opened lower on Thursday, with contract for settlement in June opening at 93.098 yuan (15.10 U.S. dollars), down 0.036 yuan. The contract for settlement in September went down 0.028 yuan to open at 93.692 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.