SAO PAULO, March 4 (Reuters) - Equities and derivatives trading at Brazil's sole exchange operator BM&FBovespa SA showed a slight recovery in February from the prior month, amid challenging political and economic conditions in Latin America's largest economy.

According to a securities filing on Wednesday, average daily traded volume at the exchange's Bovespa equities segment rose 12 percent to 7.13 billion reais ($2.4 billion) last month - when there were three fewer trading business days than January.

The number of contracts that changed hands per day in the BM&F derivatives segment rose to 2.77 million last month from 2.39 million in January, the filing added. Trading on over-the-counter derivatives and equity index futures soared last month, the company said.

Trading patterns in Brazil's financial markets have remained mixed since late last year, when a steep deterioration of economic activity and rising political tension in the wake of President Dilma Rousseff's re-election rattled financial markets.

A corruption scandal at Petróleo Brasileiro SA, the nation's largest listed state company, has fanned volatility too.

The total value of the 360 companies traded in the exchange grew 6.1 percent to 2.26 trillion reais. Last month, the benchmark Bovespa stock index rose 9.9 percent - the biggest monthly gain since January 2012.

On the other hand, trading in futures contracts on the benchmark Selic interest rate, the Brazilian real-U.S. dollar exchange rate and the Bovespa index all fell on a monthly basis.

BM&FBovespa's monthly numbers are widely followed by analysts to gauge the company's revenue and activity performance ahead of quarterly earnings. Shares on São Paulo-based BM&FBovespa shed 0.2 percent to 9.9 reais on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Guillermo Parra-Bernal; Editing by Bernard Orr)