Markets

China stock index futures close down -- January 20

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-01-20 17:09

BEIJING, January 20 (Xinhua) -- China's stock index futures closed down Thursday with the contract for January, the most actively traded, slid 3.05 percent from the previous trading day to end at 2945.4 points.

The February contract shrank 3.37 percent to close at 2957.2 points. The March contract decreased 3.32 percent to 2980 points and the June contract was down 3.52 percent to 3034.8 points.

The stock-index contracts, agreements to buy or sell the Hushen 300 Index at a preset value on an agreed date are designed to allow investors to bet on and profit from both gains and declines in the market.

The index futures was launched at the China Financial Futures Exchange (CFFEX) and started trading from April 16, 2010. The CFFEX has set the base value for all the four contracts at 3,399 points.