Shanghai crude oil futures close higher

SHANGHAI, March 18 (Xinhua)-- crude Oil futures closed higher on Monday at the Shanghai International Energy Exchange (INE).

The most active crude Oil contract for April delivery was up 0.6 yuan (about 9 U.S. cents) to close at 452.8 yuan a barrel.

On Monday, INE recorded a total of 281,272 transactions in 6 listed crude Oil futures contracts, with a turnover of 126.26 billion yuan.

China launched the crude Oil futures trading on March 26 last year. It was the first futures variety on the Chinese mainland open to overseas investment.