The volume of securities and derivatives traded on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) last month declined, but trading of commodities and clearing activities rose.

Securities trading on the local bourse fell to $20.9 billion, down 35 per cent from a year ago and 7 per cent from January, the SGX said on Wednesday.

The daily average value of securities trading dropped 41 per cent from the previous year to $1 billion as there were more trading days in February this year than last year.

Trading of derivatives also dipped 7 per cent last month from a year ago to 8.1 million contracts. China and Taiwan futures saw more activity, but Japan and India futures trading slid.

The volume of new over-the-counter financial derivatives transactions cleared was $5.3 billion in February, 15 per cent lower than last year.

But the volume of Singapore Commodity Exchange (SICOM) rubber futures traded grew 23 per cent from a year ago to 29,891 contracts, SGX said.

Iron ore futures, which were introduced on the bourse in April last year, had 47,570 contracts traded in February, up 9 per cent from January.

SGX also said there were 33 bond listings in February that raised a total of $8.9 billion. The biggest issues were a 1.5 billion euro convertible perpetual bond from Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria and US$500 million issues from Indian Railway Finance Corporation and Korea Gas Corporation.