A look at economic developments and stock market activity around the world Tuesday:

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TOKYO — Japan's jobless rate rose to a five-and-a-half year high in May, the government said Tuesday, possibly delaying a recovery for the world's second-largest economy even as manufacturers enjoy a nascent rebound.

The unemployment rate jumped to 5.2 percent from 5 percent in April as the number of jobless rose to nearly 3.5 million.

On the positive side, household spending unexpectedly logged its first gain since January 2008, boosted by Prime Minister Taro Aso's multibillion dollar stimulus measures.

Investors should get a better idea of what's in store for Japan's economy from Wednesday's "tankan" survey of business sentiment, which polls 10,000 businesses across the country.

"If companies' sense of excess employment recedes, we think that the jobless rate will eventually stop rising," said Takuji Aida, a senior economist at UBS Securities in Tokyo.

The tankan's headline sentiment index for large manufacturers is tipped to improve to minus 43 from a record low minus 58 in March, according to an average forecast of 11 economists surveyed by The Associated Press. The figure represents the percentage of companies saying business conditions are good minus those saying conditions are unfavorable.

In markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 174.97 points, or 1.8 percent, to 9,958.44. Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea's Kospi inched up 0.1 percent to 1,390.07 while Australia's benchmark rose 1.8 percent and Singapore's market gained 0.4 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed down 0.8 percent at 18,378.73, and China's Shanghai index dropped 0.5 percent.

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LONDON — The crisis-stricken British economy shrank by a revised 2.4 percent in the first quarter, even more than the previous estimate of a 1.9 percent decline and the worst drop in a half century, the government said.

The new figure was the worst since the economy contracted by 2.6 percent in the second quarter of 1958. Britain has been hard hit by the financial and economic crises, with its banks suffering heavy losses, house prices collapsing and unemployment rising. Still, some think the worst declines in growth may now be past.

Separately, Lloyds Banking Group PLC said it expects to cut 1,750 jobs in its group operations and wholesale divisions over the next three years as it consolidates the merger of Lloyds TSB and Halifax/Bank of Scotland.

The bank added that it would not move any more jobs to other countries, as a gesture to preserving work in the United Kingdom. The government has taken a 43.4 percent stake in Lloyds, which is struggling with a legacy of toxic assets within HBOS.

In markets, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares closed down 1 percent at 4,249.21 while elsewhere in Europe Germany's DAX fell 76.45 points, or 1.6 percent at 4,808.64. The CAC-40 in France was 53.24 points, or 1.7 percent, lower at 3,140.44.

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FRANKFURT — Germany's jobless rate edged down to 8.1 percent in June from 8.2 percent in May, posting a weak seasonal improvement as programs to put workers on shorter hours helped stabilize employment.

The Federal Labor Agency said the total number of people registered as unemployed dropped by 48,000 to 3.41 million. However, Germany had a quarter of a million more people unemployed than in June 2008.

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BEIJING — China boosted state-set gasoline and diesel prices to reflect rising global crude costs. The retail price of gasoline rose by 8.6 percent and that of diesel by 9.6 percent, the country's planning agency said. It is the fourth change in prices this year, meant to allow prices to fluctuate as crude costs change.

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PARIS — Immigrants who helped drive the rich world's economic growth during the boom years now face exclusion as the global economic crisis pummels economies and drives unemployment to the highest levels in 50 years, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said. In its annual report on international migration, the OECD said governments have begun taking measures to protect their native workers, leaving the immigrant work force more exposed to unemployment, discrimination and xenophobia.

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CAIRO — Standard & Poor's Ratings Service said it cut its credit rating of three Dubai government-backed entities. S&P voiced concerns about the emirate's willingness to continue backing some companies in the one-time Arab boomtown hard hit by the global recession. It downgraded the ratings for port operator DP World, the Jebel Ali Free Zone and Dubai Multi Commodities Centre Authority, all of which had been on credit watch with negative implications since the end of April.

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ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey's economy shrank by a painful 13.8 percent in the first quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago as foreign trade contracted sharply, the Turkish Statistics Institute said. Exports declined by 41 percent in the year to May while imports dropped by 43.9 percent.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.