OPEC oil ministers decided to keep their production target at 30 million barrels a day, despite an oversupply of crude and plunging prices. The global price of crude oil fell after the announcement, trading down under $72 a barrel. As recently as June it was around $115. The main catalyst in markets remains Thursday's decision by the OPEC oil cartel to maintain production at 30 million barrels a day despite global oversupply, as the Saudis and their Gulf allies hope to pressure rival producers in the U.S. The move, though widely anticipated, hit oil prices hard as traders anticipated supply levels at their current rates at least for a few months yet. The international oil standard, Brent, was up 0.2 percent at $72.72 a barrel while the benchmark New York rate slid 6.6 percent to $68.99 the divergence is due to the fact that U.S. markets were physically closed Thursday.In Europe, France's CAC 40 was down 0.3 percent at 4,370 while Germany's DAX fell the same rate to 9,943. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was 0.4 percent lower at 6,698. Wall Street, which was closed Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday, is poised for a steady open with both Dow futures and the broader S&P futures down 0.1 percent. Trading in the U.S. is expected to be modest given that markets are only open for half a day.Oil-related stocks were the big losers following the slide in crude prices. In Asia, Chinese state owned oil giant CNOOC, the country's biggest crude producer, plunged 5.5 percent and Petro China slid 3.3 percent. ın Europe, stocks, which had already dived on Thursday, faced further selling pressure. Royal Dutch Shell was down another 2.1 percent while Total fell a further 3.1 percent.Speaking to Daily Sabah, economist and President of Nişantaşı University Dr. Kerem Alkin, said, "In sectors with fierce competition, while there is a strategic struggle between countries and companies, sometimes the tactic that should be followed is not to pull out. Oil producers realized that if OPEC countries decrease production due to decreasing prices; the space freed up will be filled by other actors, the U.S. being the first. Therefore, as a strategic decision, they didn't want to leave the international crude oil market in the hands of others and preferred suffering losses instead. Russia will also accept the burden of losing instead of losing its place in the market."Oil-dependent countries like Turkey are benefitting from the situation, which has resulted in lower import bills. Turkey's foreign trade deficit drops by 15.8 percent in October compared the same month of last year. Borsa Istanbul's BIST-100 index with the effect of the falling oil prices kept rising druing the week, and was up at the close of the first session Friday. The benchmark index increased by 790.52 points to close at 85,479.04. Stocks gained 0.93 percent in value while the total trading volume was 2.61 billion Turkish liras ($1.18 billion). With the expectation of a decrease in inflation and the current account deficit, the Turkish lira gained value while indicative interest decreased to 7.47 percent, which is the lowest level since July 2013.Some companies also stand to gain from lower oil prices as they can reduce their input costs. Airlines, for example, stand to prosper from lower oil prices. Shares in Air France-KLM, for example, were up 4.3 percent, while those in Germany's Lufthansa saw its stock spike 3.2 percent.A fall in energy costs as a result of dramatic declines in oil markets has pushed inflation across the 18-country eurozone down to 0.3 percent in the year to November, official figures showed on Friday. Preliminary numbers from the European Union's statistics agency, Eurostat, showed the dip in the consumer price inflation rate from the previous month's 0.4 percent was largely due to a 2.5 percent decline in energy costs. Excluding volatile energy, food, alcohol and tobacco prices a gauge policymakers at the European Central Banks monitor closely inflation was steady at 0.7 percent.Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 1.2 percent to close at 17,459.85 while South Korea's Kospi slipped 0.1 percent to 1,980.78. Hong Kong's Hang Seng edged 0.1 percent lower to 23,987.45 while in mainland China the Shanghai Composite Index gained 2 percent to 2,682.83. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 tumbled 1.6 percent to 5,313.00.Russian Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said on Friday the government would cut its oil price forecast for 2015; but he declined to give a number. The oil price has slumped from nearly $115 per barrel in June to just above $70 now. Russia needs the oil price to be around $100 per barrel to balance its budget. * CONTRIBUTED BY WIRES