China's treasury bond futures closed mixed on Tuesday, with the September 2017 contract closing 0.01 percent lower at 98.175 yuan (about 14.38 U.S. dollars).

The December 2017 contract went down 0.05 percent to close at 98.155 yuan while the March 2018 contract went up 0.33 percent to close at 98.100 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.