US stocks opened slightly lower today, with the S&P holding near its most recent record high on the heels of its fifth straight weekly advance. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 21.77 points or 0.13 percent, to 17,115.59, the S&P 500 lost 2.84 points or 0.14 percent, to 2,004.87 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.39 points or 0.03 percent, to 4,581.51. European shares fell in early trading today, retreating after an opinion poll showed supporters of Scottish independence from Britain taking the lead for the first time since the referendum campaign began. Shares in Scottish-based banks featured among the biggest losers, with Lloyds Banking Group down 2.2 percent and Royal Bank of Scotland down 2.7 percent. With less than two weeks to go before the vote, a YouGov survey for the Sunday Times newspaper put the "Yes" to independence campaign at 51 percent against the "no" camp at 49 percent, overturning a 22-point lead for the unionist campaign in just a month. Analysts and economists have questioned whether an independent Scotland will be able to host such large banks. Banking industry sources told Reuters last week that Lloyds is considering moving its registered offices to London if Scots vote for independence. The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 0.4 percent at 1,390.61 points. Around Europe, UK's FTSE 100 index was down 0.4 percent and France's CAC 40 down 0.1 percent. Germany's DAX bucked the trend, up 0.3 percent. The country posted today a record trade surplus of 22.2 billion euros for July, suggesting it could bounce back strongly in the third quarter after suffering a surprise contraction in the second. Sweden's Electrolux jumped 6.9 percent after it said today it would buy General Electric Co's appliances business for $3.3 billion in cash to double sales in North America and take on rival Whirlpool Corp. The FTSEurofirst 300 gained 1.6 percent last week, boosted by a surprise interest rate cut by the European Central Bank which also launched new measures to support the euro zone economy. Goldman Sachs' equity strategists see further gains in European stocks in the coming months, raising their rating on equities to 'overweight' from 'neutral' on a 3-month basis. In a note issued late on Friday, Goldman Sachs wrote that it was still keeping a 'very positive' view on global equities for the longer-term, helped by better corporate earnings growth and dividends. Meanwhile, Japanese stocks edged up today in choppy trade as weaker-than-expected US jobs data spurred hopes that US interest rates will stay low, while Rakuten Inc tumbled on news of a deal to buy a US rebate site operator. Index heavy-weight SoftBank Corp, which has a stake of more than 30 percent in Alibaba, rose 2.1 percent and contributed a hefty 18.87 points to the Nikkei index on news that Alibaba Group Holding Ltd expects to price its initial public offering between $60 and $66 a share. The Nikkei closed up 0.2 percent at 15,705.11, not too far from its seven-month high of 15,829.38 hit last week. The broader Topix rose 0.4 percent to 1,298.64, with only 1.78 billion shares changing hands, the lowest since September 1. The JPX-Nikkei Index 400 gained 0.4 percent to 11,778.63. Rakuten Inc dropped 4.2 percent after the Nikkei newspaper reported the Japanese online retailer is finalising a deal to buy US rebate site operator Ebates for more than 100 billion yen ($951 million).

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