SINGAPORE - The volume of securities traded on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) declined again in May, falling 38 per cent from a year ago and 9 per cent from April.

Securities worth a total of $23.4 billion were traded, working out to an average daily value of $1.2 billion, the SGX said on Wednesday.

Derivatives activity also eased, the bourse said. Some 8.1 million contracts were traded, down 26 per cent from a year ago and 4 per cent from April.

The China A50 futures was the most active contract with 2 million contracts traded, up 23 per cent from the previous year.

But commodities volumes jumped: the volume of iron ore swaps, futures and options cleared more than quadrupled from a year ago to a record 214,534 contracts, said the SGX.