* MSCI world equity index down 0.2 percent at 206.28
* Ifo, Siemens warning and CBI data sour sentiment
* Sterling tumbles after CBI data; dollar steady
By Natsuko Waki
LONDON, March 25 (Reuters) - World stocks slipped and oil fell on Wednesday after a weak German corporate sentiment survey, a warning from German engineering group Siemens and poor UK retail data raised concerns about the global economy.
The Munich-based Ifo economic research institute said its business climate index, based on a monthly poll of around 7,000 firms, fell to 82.1 from 82.6 in February. A Reuters poll of 45 economists had pointed to a reading of 82.2.
The chief executive of Siemens told a paper that the company is being hit by the global economic slump and will review its profit forecast by the time of its quarterly results next month. Siemens' shares fell more than 7 percent.
Moreover, the Confederation of British Industry's distributive trades survey balance fell to -44 in March from -25 in February, triggering broad declines in sterling.
These factors helped stocks reverse early gains and soured sentiment which had improved following Washington's latest $1 trillion bank rescue plans and efforts by central banks around the world to adopt unconventional steps to ease monetary policy.
"People are asking if the bounce in stocks is over. The Dow (Jones Industrial Average) closing down yesterday has thrown a lot of people and there's some uncertainty, people are waiting to see what the U.S. does when it comes in," said Lee Ferridge, an FX Strategist at State Street Global Markets. MSCI world equity index fell a quarter percent, edging away from a 5-1/2 week high on Tuesday. The index has risen more than 10 percent this month however, on track for its biggest monthly gain in nearly 10 years.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index fell 1 percent.
Analysts noted that a rise in Ifo's expectations index for a third month in a row offered some positive forward-looking signs, although the situation remained dire in the near term.
"This tentative uptrend means there's still good reason to expect this series to be at higher levels later this year, consistent with growth eventually becoming positive again," Credit Suisse said in a note to clients.
"While there's tentative evidence in this survey that the outlook for growth later this year is getting less bad, the near term prospect seems to be for a very deep contraction in German and euro area output in the first half of 2009."
U.S. stock futures were pointing to a firmer open on Wall Street.
Emerging stocks rose 0.3 percent.
The euro was steady at $1.3485. The yen rose 0.2 percent to 97.71 per dollar. The dollar was steady against a basket of major currencies, after scoring its biggest weekly fall since 1985 last week.
Sterling lost nearly 1 percent to $1.4561.
U.S. crude oil fell 2.3 percent to $52.74 a barrel as concerns grew over weakening global energy demand.
The June bund futures was steady.
(Additional reporting by Kirsten Donovan; Editing by Ron Askew)