US stocks open lower

US stocks have opened mostly lower as investors weighed the prospects of Scottish independence and a General Electric deal to sell its home appliances division to Sweden's Electrolux. Five minutes into trade the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 19.77 points (0.12 per cent) to 17,117.59. The broad-based SP 500 shed 2.55 (0.13 per cent) to 2,005.16, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index added 3.30 (0.07 per cent) to 4,586.20. Polls show rising support in Scotland for independence from the United Kingdom in a referendum vote to be held next week. The British pound slid to a nine-month low point of $1.6128 and dropped to 80.25 pence against the euro, which was the lowest for three weeks. The British FTSE 100 dropped nearly 0.8 per cent. Meanwhile, US conglomerate GE announced the $3.3 billion sale of its home appliances business to Electrolux, a big player in kitchen, laundry and other types of appliances. GE shares rose 0.2 per cent. The US economic calendar is fairly light this week but includes the August retail sales report, according to skynews.com