China's stock index futures closed down Tuesday with the contract for February, the most actively traded, shrank 0.52 percent from the previous trading day to end at 2,960 points.

The March contract lost 0.59 percent to 2,985.6 points. The June contract shed 0.6 percent to 3,043 points and the September contract was down 0.46 percent to 3,093.8 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 on April 16, 2010. The CFFEX has set the base value for all the four contracts at 3,399 points.