China's stock index futures opened lower Wednesday. The contract for settlement in July, the most actively traded, opened at 2,785, down 14.6 points from the previous trading.

The contract expiring in August opened at 2,801.2, down 17.6 points from the previous trading.

The September contract opened at 2,824, down 17.8 points while the December contract opened at 2,880, down 11 points from previous trading.

The stock-index contracts, agreements to buy or sell the Hushen 300 Index at a present 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.