Singapore's non-oil domestic exports rose 11.6 percent in May from a year earlier, exceeding market expectations due to a rise in non-electronic product shipments such as non-monetary gold, data showed on Friday.
On a month-on-month, seasonally adjusted basis, non-oil domestic exports (NODX) in May jumped 16.8 percent, the trade agency International Enterprise Singapore (IE Singapore) said in a statement.
The median forecast in a Reuters poll was for NODX to shrink 2.3 percent from a year earlier and grow 2.6 percent from the previous month.
Non-electronic NODX rose 19.0 percent in May from a year earlier. Exports of non-monetary gold surged 436.7 percent from a year earlier, IE Singapore said.
Last month, Singapore slashed its exports forecasts for this year. IE Singapore sees non-oil domestic exports contracting 3.0-5.0 percent, compared with previous expectations of a 0.0-2.0 percent expansion.