SINGAPORE (Nov 21): Singapore shares ended the morning session mostly higher, with banks among the key gainers.

Gainers outnumbered decliners by about two to one, although trading was generally subdued, with fewer than 500 million shares changing hands.

The Straits Times Index was 0.7% higher at 3,338.22 at 12:20pm (0420 GMT).

DBS ( Financial Dashboard) added 1.4% to $19.83, OCBC gained 1% to $10.45 and UOB rose 1% to $23.62.

All three banks have been flagged by analysts as stocks to own since the recent release of their 3Q2014 results, which beat market expectations.

Genting Singapore rose 1.4% to $1.12 in brisk trade.

The gaming group has been actively buying back its own shares on the open market after they sank to a four-year low of about $1 last week, when it reported weaker 3Q2014 results and said its near-term outlook would be tough amid a slowdown in business from premium players from China.

Keppel T&T added 0.8% to $1.80 after the company said it would buy another data centre in the Netherlands amid growing demand.

The company is in the midst of spinning off its data centres through a REIT listing on the Mainboard.

Novo Group , which was profiled in The Edge Markets' Stocks with momentum column, fell 8% to 23 cents following strong gains in the last two sessions.

The Hong Kong-based steel trader ended up on the SGX watchlist in September. Its independent auditor said earlier this year it could have problems continuing as a going concern.