GLOBAL MARKETS-World stocks rise on HSBC, crude oil eases

(Recasts with U.S. markets, adds byline; changes dateline; previous LONDON)

By Herbert Lash

NEW YORK, May 12 (Reuters) - World stocks rose on Monday after better-than-expected results at HSBC, Europe's largest bank, and U.S. bond insurer MBIA eased worries about the impact of a credit crisis and crude oil fell below $125 a barrel.

Optimism in equity markets was in contrast to U.S. Treasury debt prices, which rose after Chicago Federal Reserve President Charles Evans said U.S. consumers were "under a lot of stress," underscoring the fragile state of the world's biggest economy.

The dollar firmed against the euro and yen toward last week's two-month peak and gold prices fell. Record high oil prices may help gold, a traditional hedge against inflation, defy declining demand from jewelers and other physical buyers.

In the U.S. stock market, the Nasdaq gained more than 1 percent as investors snapped up big-cap technology shares on hopes the U.S. economy may not be in as bad shape as previously feared.

Major financial markets were calm after a strong earthquake jolted China's southwest province of Sichuan. Shanghai stocks fell around 1 percent before closing higher on the day, while the yuan <CNY1MNDFOR=> slipped in offshore non-deliverable forwards against the U.S. dollar.

HSBC's results added to a growing perception among investors that banks are making solid strides in cleaning up balance sheets that have been hit hard by the nine-month-old credit crisis. The worst of the financial turmoil may have passed.

"There are signs that the financial market crisis is easing. Financial institutions are starting to offload bad loans and recapitalize," said Christine Li, European economist at Moody's research arm Economy.com.