China's stock index futures open higher Monday with three of the four contracts gain at the opening from the previous trading day.

The contract for May, which is most actively traded, gained 21.8 points to open at 3,243. The June contract rose 21.4 points to 3,277.2. The September contract opened at 3,304.0, unchanged from previous trading day, and the December contract was up 34.8 points to open at 3,419.8.

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.