By Sara Sjolin and Carla Mozee, MarketWatch Stagecoach rallies after winning East Coast rail contract

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Oil stocks in London sold off Thursday after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries decided not to cut its oil-production target.

The FTSE's oil and gas group slid 3.9% after OPEC said the 12-country cartel will stick with its current production target of 30 million barrels a day. Leading up to the meeting in Vienna, there was speculation in the markets that the organization would bring in a reduction, in an effort to stop a recent drop in global oil prices.

The decision to keep the target was made "in the interest of restoring market equilibrium," said OPEC in a statement.

U.S. crude-oil futures (CLF5) hit a four-and-a-half year low below $68 a barrel following OPEC's statement, weighing on the FTSE's oil stocks.

Shares of Tullow Oil PLC tumbled 7.2% and those of Petrofac Ltd. dropped 6.2%. BG Group PLC sloughed off 5.9%. Also, Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB) fell 4.3%, and BP PLC (BP) declined 2.7%.

The FTSE 100 fell 0.1% to 6,723.42, with the loss limited in part by gains in shares of travel companies, which can be sensitive to oil prices. EasyJet PLC shares flew up 5.8% despite a ratings downgrade at RBC Capital Markets Thursday, to sector perform from outperform. British Airways's parent International Consolidated Airlines Group rallied 4.9%, and TUI Travel PLC tacked on 3.9%.

Also higher were shares of Barclays PLC (BCS), rising 2.5% after Goldman Sachs lifted its rating on the bank to buy from neutral.

Outside the main benchmark, Stagecoach Group PLC jumped 8.2% after the transportation operator, in collaboration with Virgin, won the franchise to run the East Coast rail route.

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