China's stock index futures closed down Monday with the contract for January, the most actively traded, fell 4.38 percent from the previous trading day to end at 2971.8 points.

The February contract dropped 4.29 percent to close at 2992 points. The March contract shrank 4.16 percent to 3025 points and the June contract was down 4.53 percent to 3084 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.