BEIJING, May 3 (Xinhua) -- China's treasury bond futures closed higher on Tuesday, with the contract for settlement in June 2016 closed 0.229 percent higher at 100.830 yuan (about 15.61 U.S. dollars).

The September 2016 contract closed 0.241 percent higher at 99.880 yuan. The December 2016 contract closed 0.237 percent higher at 99.265 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.