HELSINKI -- The European Central Bank(ECB)'s decision to cut its benchmark interest rate to historic low would have little positive effects on the economy of the 17-member eurozone, analysts said here on Thursday.

Pushed by a bleak economic prospect and a soaring unemployment rate, the ECB lowered its benchmark refinancing rate from 0.75 percent to 0.5 percent at a meeting of its rate-setting council in Bratislava, Slovakia.

The new interest rate, the lowest in history, will come into effect on May 8.

Citing weak economic sentiment that has extended into the spring of this year, ECB president Mario Draghi said "the cut in interest rates should contribute to support a recovery later in the year."

However, the rate cut only gave European markets a small lift Thursday amid worries about the state of the eurozone economy.

France's CAC-40 rose 0.1 percent to close at 3,858.76 while Germany's DAX rose 0.6 percent to 7,961.71. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares rose 0.2 percent to 6,460.71.

However, following the news that negative deposit rates could be considered, the euro tumbled against the U.S. dollars, down 0.9 percent to 1.3061 U.S. dollars.

Many economists and analysts believed that the lower interest rate would have little positive effects on the economy of the eurozone.

Pari Kuoppamaki, chief economist of the Finnish branch of Danske Bank, said that the impact of interest rate cut would be quite weak.

"The relaxed monetary policy can not directly bring about economic growth, and an efficient measure should be taken to facilitate bank loans transferred to enterprises in the heavily indebted euro-zone countries," Kuoppamaki said.

An article published on Helsingin News, Finland's largest daily, also said the ECB's interest rate cut would not rescue the banking crisis in southern Europe, as measures being implemented there, such as stricter bank lending conditions and the reduction of lending activities, have nothing to do with the interest rate.

The sluggish economy in the eurozone has led some economists to believe that the low interest rates will not be raised in the short term.

According to a forecast made by Reijo Heiskanen, Chief Economist of OP-Pohjola, the ECB's benchmark interest rate will not rise until 2015 or 2016.

Tiina Helenius, Chief Economist of Handelsbanken 's Finland branch, even believed that the slow economic recovery is insufficient to reduce the unemployment rate to below 10 percent by 2018, thus it is unreasonable to raise ECB's benchmark interest rate before 2018.

Thursday's rate cut was ECB's first adjustment since ECB lowered its benchmark interest rates from 1 percent to 0.75 percent in July 2012.