China's treasury bond futures closed lower on Wednesday, with the contract for settlement in September 2017 closing 0.046 percent lower at 97.89 yuan (about 14.4 U.S. dollars).

The December 2017 contract closed 0.046 percent lower at 97.92 yuan. The TF1803 contract closed 0.01 percent lower at 97.9 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.