The share price of Lombard Bank Malta plc slumped 4% to a fresh 9-month low of €1.70 on the stock exchange today  following last Friday’s full-year results publication.

During 2013, the Lombard Group registered a 28.4% drop in net profit to €4.1 million as the 9% increase in operating profit was outweighed by the €3.2 million increase in impairments. Furthermore, the directors declared a final gross dividend of €0.04 per share (2012: €0.1091) reflecting the decline in profitability as well as the regulatory reduction in line with the new provisions of Banking Rule 09. A total of 150,825 shares changed hands today.

GO plc also closed in negative territory ahead of the 2013 full-year results publication tomorrow. The share price of the telecoms quad-play operator eased by 0.7% to €2.075 across six deals totalling 6,440 shares.

On the other hand, the share price of HSBC Bank Malta plc inched minimally higher to €2.431 on low volumes of 2,640 shares. Similarly, shallow volumes were transacted in Grand Harbour Marina plc as the equity inched 0.1% higher to €1.82 on a small deal of 500 shares.

Meanwhile, no change took place in the share price of Bank of Valletta plc at the €2.25 level across forty trades totalling 83,106 shares. Likewise, the equity of RS2 software plc ended this morning’s session unchanged at the €2.41 level across 11,000 shares.

Similarly, Medserv plc held on to the €1.30 level across four deals totalling 9,744 shares. The only other active equity was Malita Investments plc with a small deal of 657 shares being executed at the €0.54 level, unchanged from the previous closing price.

Overall, the MSE Share Index slipped 0.1% back to a new 3-month low of 3,545.941 points.

On the bond market, the Rizzo Farrugia MGS Index eased minimally lower to 1,027.505 points as the benchmark 10-year Eurozone yields rebounded to the 1.56% level. The uplift in yields contrasts with the prevailing turmoil in Ukraine as well as the decline in Eurozone inflation to 0.7% (a level which triggered the last interest cut by the European Central Bank).