Analysts dampen G4S turnaround hopes Following the recent scandal linked to overcharging for criminal tagging, the Government is reviewing all of its contracts with G4S, which could lead to "delays, fines or reputational damage," they warned. Other parts of the business also face margin pressure while G4S shares have already re-rated significantly since Mr Almanza unveiled his plans for the group, which limits any upside, the analysts said. They cut their recommendation on G4S to "neutral" from "outperform," a move that overshadowed a more upbeat assessment issued by Gideon Adler at Investec, who today repeated his "buy" rating and said it had been "a strong debut from the new man up top" last week. In the broader market, the continuing nervousness about the situation in Syria and the wider Middle East was borne out by the reaction to Russian reports that missiles had been detected in the eastern Mediterranean. The FTSE 100 briefly fell as much as 0.8pc and Brent crude spiked as high as $115.74 a barrel in morning trade amid alarm over the development. Traders" regained their composure when it later transpired that Russia had in fact detected a joint test by Israel and the United States of a new missile. However, London's benchmark still ended the session down 37.78 points, or 0.6pc, at 6,468.41 after John Boehner, the Republican speaker of the US House of Representatives, later in the day backed the case for American intervention in Syria. The mid-cap FTSE 250 dipped 14.02 points to 14,861.46. Centrica was among the biggest blue-chip risers, climbing 4.2 to 393.1p after analysts at Deutsche Bank forecast that European gas prices are set to rise, which would benefit the group's upstream business. The company's British Gas division will also receive a boost from the improving UK economy, the Deutsche experts said, and lifted their recommendation to "buy" from "hold." The same went for Associated British Foods, the clothing-to-sugar-conglomerate that advanced 23p to £19.01 after Exane BNP turned positive on the shares. Analysts at the broker said ABF will shrug off falling profits from its sugar business after 2017 - which will decline because of regulatory change in Europe - thanks to the growing importance of its fashion business. "Primark will very likely be the market's sole focus," the analysts said, and lifted their recommendation on ABF to "outperform" from "underperform." Analysts were also behind some of the biggest fallers in the FTSE 100: Land Securities shed 27½ to 881p after Deutsche cut the real estate group to "sell" from "hold," and peer British Land lost 14½ to 552½p when the same broker lowered its recommendation to "hold." Vodafone, which surged in recent sessions in anticipation of its deal to exit its US joint venture, relinquished 10.7 to 202½p, making it the single biggest faller in the FTSE 100. There was some market disappointment with the terms of the return to shareholders, while analysts at Macquarie advised that clients take profits. The Vodafone deal, as well as Microsoft's €5.44bn acquisition of Nokia's handset business, ensured the broader technology and telecoms sector was in the spotlight today. But there were also other, company-specific factors at play. On the FTSE 250, Spirent Communications was one of the best performers and put on 6 to 134.6p on news chief executive Bill Burns was leaving the network testing group. Under Mr Burns, the group last month posted a 72.5pc drop in first-half operating profit to $14.5m. Meanwhile, TalkTalk Telecom was lifted 5½ to 253½p by an upgrade to "overweight" from "neutral" at JPMorgan Cazenove. Analyst Carl Murdock-Smith argued that nervousness over the impact of BT Sport - a service which has been offered free to BT broadband users - was "overdone" and that TalkTalk's forthcoming first-half results "should provide early evidence that BT Sport does not pose a significant risk." The shares were further helped by vague speculation Vodafone could look at TalkTalk. Elsewhere in the second-tier index, electricals retailer Dixons jumped 2.68, or 6.5pc, to 44.18p in the run-up to its first-quarter numbers on Thursday. Sentiment towards the group was bolstered by the release of the British Retail Consortium data for August, showing a pick-up in demand for electricals items such as tablets and laptops as students prepare to return to their studies.