(Recasts lead, updates levels throughout)
* MSCI Asia ex-Japan hits the lowest since mid-February
* Dollar near lowest since November 2016 vs yen
* Trump's tariff threat met with warnings of retaliation
* Italian exit polls point to hung parliament
By Swati Pandey
SYDNEY, March 5 (Reuters) - Asian investors dumped sharesand drove to the safety of the yen and gold on Monday amid fearsof a global trade war and worries of political uncertainty inItaly, risks that cloud the outlook for world growth.
Italian voters delivered a hung parliament on Sunday,flocking to anti-establishment and far-right parties in recordnumbers and casting the euro zone's third-largest economy into apolitical gridlock that could take months to clear. euro EUR= traded choppily around $1.2320, easing froma two-week high of $1.2365 as the eurosceptic 5-Star Movementsaw its support soar to become the largest single party,according to projections based on early vote-counting.
In the United States, President Donald Trump proposedtariffs on imported steel and aluminium, a pledge that met withwarnings of retaliation from the rest of the world over theweekend.
The spectre of a global trade war hit risk appetite, sendingMSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS down 0.8 percent to the lowest sincemid-February.
U.S. stock futures did not inspire much confidence, with S&PE-Minis ESc1 down 0.6 percent and Dow futures 1YMc1 off 0.4percent.
"The messy Italian election result adds a bit to thenervousness to global equity markets at present," said ShaneOliver, Sydney-based chief economist at AMP.
"The Italian election...does run the risk of making Italy'spublic finances worse than they already are with no progress inaddressing Italy's long-term competitiveness problems."
The euro still found support after Germany's Social Democratparty decisively backed the renewal of an alliance with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives, allowing her to form anew government more than five months since the country'sinconclusive election. single currency also got a lift from some safe-havenflows, as did the Japanese yen.
The dollar fell for a fourth straight session to tradearound 105.52 yen, but was slightly above Friday's low of105.23, a level not seen since November 2016. JPY=
"Nothing's happened over the weekend to soften concernsabout trade wars or retaliatory actions by other countries,"said Ray Attrill, head of forex strategy at National AustraliaBank. "There is no rowing back so that gets us to a cautiousstart."
Canada and Mexico have threatened retaliation, and theEuropean Union said it would apply 25 percent tariffs on about$3.5 billion of imports from the United States if Trump carriedout his threat. said on Sunday it did not want a trade war with theUnited States but will defend its interests, warning thatpolicies based on "mistaken assumptions" will damage bilateralrelations. SHARES
Investors fear the current momentum in the global economycould be lost if Trump starts a trade war.
Asian markets were a sea of red with Japan's Nikkei .N225 and South Korea's KOSPI .KS11 both down about 1 percent, whileChinese shares eased too after starting on a positive note. .CSI300 .SSEC
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index .HSI slipped 1.4 percent.
"Frustration with a lack of market access and a lack of fairtrade are understandable," said Peter Jolly, global head ofresearch for National Australia Bank.
"If this escalation draws that into focus with someimprovement, that would be positive. But retaliatory tit-for-tatmeasures would weigh against market access, a cost to growthwith increases in trade prices, costs, and inflation."
Investors will keep an eye on a deluge of data this week,culminating in the U.S. non-farm payrolls on Friday. The annualopening of the National People's Congress in China was anotherfocus for investors. China's parliament has kept the economy'sgrowth target at 6.5 percent for this year. commodities, oil prices climbed ahead of a meetingbetween OPEC and U.S. shale firms in Houston, raisingexpectations that oil producers would discuss further how toclear a global glut. crude was up 25 cents at $64.63 a barrel while U.S.light crude CLc1 added 23 cents to $61.48.
Spot gold XAU= climbed 0.3 percent to $1,326.46.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^MSCI and Nikkei chart
http://reut.rs/2sSBRiD
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore and Jacqueline Wong)