China's treasury bond futures closed lower on Tuesday, with the contract for settlement in June 2017 closing 0.103 percent lower at 97.4 yuan (about 14.3 U.S. dollars).

The September 2017 contract closed 0.123 percent lower at 97.69 yuan. The December 2017 contract closed 0.077 percent lower at 97.61 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 and started trading on Sept. 6, 2013.