By Jeremy Gaunt, European Investment Correspondent

LONDON (Reuters) - Stock markets slid on Monday and the dollar firmed against major currencies due to fears that a burgeoning U.S.-China trade row could damage the world economy just as it was getting back on track.

U.S. President Barack Obama announced safeguard duties on tire imports from China on Friday and China responded by signaling anti-dumping investigations of motor vehicles and chicken products from the United States.

Japanese shares led the slide on Monday with losses of 2.3 percent on the Nikkei <.N225>, followed by Europe, where the FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> was down 1.2 percent in early trade.

That took MSCI's all-country world stock index down 0.9 percent, threatening to break a seven-session winning streak that has lifted the index to 11-month highs.

MSCI's emerging market index <.MSCIEF> also lost 1.4 percent despite gains in China itself.

Some of the losses were linked to lower commodity prices, which lifted the dollar and pushed down mining and energy stocks.

"There's weakness in metal prices and oils and miners are down...certainly there are some jitters and investors are going back to safe havens," said Richard Hunter, head of equities at broker Hargreaves Lansdown.

Stocks have nonetheless been on an upward rampage for much of this year and investors do not appear ready to give up.

Stephen Pope, chief global market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald, suggested that weakness offered a buying opportunity.

"If you turn around and look at the economic numbers coming through, everything is showing signs of improvement," Pope said, referring to Asian growth and Germany PMI data.

"I know there is an issue about how much longer government stimulus programmes can continue but believe me these western governments will do whatever it takes to make sure these economies don't slip back and go (into a) double dip (recession)."

STRONGER DOLLAR

The dollar -- which tends to gain when investors cut back on riskier bets -- rose against most currencies as stocks fell and players fretted over the trade spat.

"A trade war will not help the global economy and we believe this news is enough to dent a market positioned for recovery," said Chris Turner, head of FX strategy at ING.

The dollar index, a gauge for the greenback's performance against six major currencies, stood at 76.902 <.DXY>, up from 76.608 in late U.S. trade on Friday and rebounding from a one-year low of 76.457 hit late last week.

It was down 0.1 percent at 90.52 yen though, having fallen earlier to 90.18 yen on EBS, its lowest since February.

The euro fell 0.2 percent to 131.86 yen partly as a 2.3 percent drop in Tokyo's Nikkei share average <.N225> prompted Japanese investors to trim long positions.

The euro was flat at $1.4563.

Two-year euro zone government bond yields stood 3 basis points higher at 1.235 percent and 10-year yields were flat at 3.244 percent. (Additional reporting by Simon Falush, Dominic Lau and Tamawa Desai; editing by Patrick Graham)