Centamin falls on working capital concerns Barclays was the blue-chip laggard, weighed down by the sale of up to 303.3m of its shares at 244p apiece that was caused by Qatar Holding cashing in its remaining warrants in the lender. Barclays lost 13.7 to 240½p. Analysts at JPMorgan Cazenove were also examining how the lender should adapt to the new regulatory environment for banks, arguing that "a credible new strategy requires balance sheet reduction in [the investment bank] over time, alongside further cost cuts group-wide." Royal Bank of Scotland fell 8.9 to 285.1p and Lloyds Banking Group finished 1.305 lower at 45.1p. Although they were already falling, one dealer said the announcement of Mark Carney, head of Canada's central bank, as the new Bank of England governor put pressure on the lenders in the afternoon because of his preference for tighter regulation of banks. Among the FTSE 100 risers, British Land found support from UBS, which argued that concerns over the group's ageing portfolio had receded. "Although the company's lease lengths have shortened, [British Land] has been turning these from a threat into an opportunity," the broker said, highlighting the group's management of the Broadgate Estate in the City, where it has been successful "in potentially timing the lease expiries in harmony with the delivery of new space." UBS also noted that the property company's average cost of debt is lower than its peers and boosted its recommendation on British Land to "buy" from "neutral." Investors heeded the broker's advice and sent the shares up 2 to 537p. Catering group Compass edged ½ higher to 716½p courtesy of Nomura, which raised it price target to 832p from 800p on the back of last Wednesday's full-year results, where the company announced a £400m share buyback. Nomura maintained its "buy" recommendation on Compass. Bid talk lingered around BG Group, which became the subject of takeover speculation after a disappointing trading update last month knocked almost 14pc off the shares in one day. This time it was analysts at Exane BNP who were eying up the FTSE 100 group, arguing that they saw room for consolidation in the integrated oil and gas sector. They said BG was "a prime M&A candidate, particularly following the recent weakness in the shares." Indeed, BG was trading above £15 earlier this year but today the shares dipped 5p to £10.71½. On the mid-cap index, hungry investors pushed shares in sausage-maker Cranswick up 73½ to 812½p after the group unveiled a 21pc increase in first-half pre-tax profits to £22.5m. Strong half-year numbers from Essar Energy saw shares in the Indian-focused energy group power 5.9 higher to 127p. Traders sent TUI Travel shares up 4.7 to 267.6p on hopes that the package holiday industry may see some improvement. Morgan Stanley noted the increase in UK package holiday volumes over the past two years, in part because "the main summer holiday appears to be more resilient than the weekend break." The broker argued that TUI, the market leader in the UK, France and Germany, would gain the most from a recovery in the industry and raised its target price to 250p from 200p, while maintaining its "equal weight" rating. At the other end of the FTSE 250 - 45.33 points lower at 11,843.60 - translation software group SDL suffered the heaviest drop after warning investors it "expects a profits shortfall of between £3m to £4m against current market expectations" for the full-year. Panmure Gordon and Canaccord Genuity took the opportunity to cut SDL, which is on the hunt for a new chief executive following the departure of John Hunter earlier this month, to "hold" from "buy" and the shares tumbled 72½ -14.2pc- to 438½p. Sports Direct dipped 10.7 to 380½p after The Daily Telegraph reported founder Mike Ashley and the retailer are eyeing a stake in House of Fraser. There was concern about how such a purchase would be funded. Finally, nervous selling saw Sportingbet slip 1 to 45p as investors waited for further news on William Hill and GVC's takeover of the group.