Mr Wim Duisenberg, European Central Bank president, yesterday appeared to rule out a cut in key euro-zone interest rates at tomorrow's meeting of the bank's governing council in Frankfurt.

Speaking in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Mr Duisenberg said the ECB's rate structure since last month's 0.25 percentage point cut in the key rate to 4.5 per cent "was appropriate to ensure price stability in the euro area over the medium term".

He added: "Since the last meeting of the governing council, there has not been any new information that would justify changing this assessment."

Mr Duisenberg's unusually blunt rejection of further monetary easing contrasted with last week's sixth reduction in US interest rates in as many months and came in the wake of gloomy economic data, especially in Germany, and a rush of profit warnings from heavyweight European companies.

Yesterday, the European Commission reported that economic confidence in the euro zone fell in June for the sixth month in a row. In addition, the steady fall in euro-zone unemployment was coming to an end.