Shanghai gold futures close lower

SHANGHAI - Gold futures closed lower Thursday in daytime trading on the Shanghai Futures Exchange.

The most active gold contract for June delivery was down 0.3 yuan ($0.04) to close at 346.24 yuan a gram.

The total trading volume for seven listed gold futures contracts on the exchange was 81,773 lots, with a turnover of about 28.22 billion yuan.

China launched gold futures in January 2008.