In the latest effort to help the continent's most troubled economies, the European Central Bank on Thursday cut interest rates to record lows, but Italy's economy did not respond as hoped.

Thursday's steps where the most aggressive yet from the European Central Bank, which cut the main refinance rate by 25 basis points to 0.75 percent interest, the lowest level ever since the creation of the eurozone 10 years ago.

More importantly, the interest rate on overnight deposits was cut to zero. The moves where designed to increase the amount of money in circulation in hopes that the increased liquidity would help the eurozone avoid falling even deeper into crisis.

It was the ECB's first rate cut since December.

"Economic growth in the euro area continues to be weak, complicated by heightened uncertainty weighing on both confidence and sentiment," ECB President Mario Draghi, an Italian, said in a statement.

The ECB has been under pressure to ease monetary conditions, notwithstanding the fact that Draghi has indicated misgivings about the effectiveness of using lower interest rates as a tool for growth. Those misgivings seem to be given credence by reactions to the bank's move in Italy.

The yield on secondary markets for Italy's benchmark 10-year bond briefly rose above the 6-percent barrier for the first time in a week on Thursday, before closing trading Thursday at 5.98 percent, an increase of 3.66 percent compared to Wednesday's trading.

Similarly, the Italian Stock Exchange in Milan opened mostly flat compared to Wednesday's close before falling in the wake of the European Central Bank's announcement. The MIB blue chip index closed trading Thursday at 14,089 points, down 2.03 percent on the day. That is up from its 52-week low set last month, but the index is still down 30.5 percent over the last year.

Analysts said the markets were disappointed the ECB did not do more address the economic crisis gripping the 17-nation trading bloc.

"The interest rate reduction is a positive step, but there was speculation they could have announced a more aggressive posture going forward or announce other steps to add cash to the monetary system or to purchase debt from countries where there was weak demand," said Antonio Renis, a junior economist with ABS Securities in Milan. "When those things did not materialize, markets reacted negatively."

Renis said that lower interest rates are less effective when rates are already as low as they had been.

"When the main refinance rate is at 1.00 percent, all the money that can be in circulation is," he said. "Lowering it to 0.75 percent doesn't make a big difference. It's more symbolic than anything. At this point, extra steps could be necessary."

But for his part, Draghi said he was not sure there was much else the bank could do. It is not clear there are "other effective measures available in such a highly fragmented market."

The news from Draghi's office seemed to hurt weak economies more than strong ones. Bond yields rose Thursday in Italy as well as in Spain and Greece, two other troubled economies. But in Germany, they actually dropped slightly, increasing the spread -- the difference between the bond yield for two countries -- between Germany and Italy to 460 basis points, their widest level in nearly two weeks.