China's treasury bond futures closed lower on Tuesday, with the contract for settlement in September 2016 closed 0.188 percent lower at 100.860 yuan (about 15.04 U.S. dollars).

The December 2016 contract closed 0.169 percent lower at 100.555 yuan. The March 2017 contract closed 0.154 percent lower at 100.310 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.