* Healthcare sector advances, while commodity plays slip

* AIG up 4.2 pct after Moody's comments

* Dow off 0.1 pct, S&P down 0.2 pct, Nasdaq down 0.4 pct

* For up-to-the-minute market news, click [STXNEWS/US] (Updates to midday, changes byline)

By Edward Krudy

NEW YORK, Nov 10 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks slipped on Tuesday as investors paused to assess the rally that pushed the Dow industrials to a 13-month high in the previous session and drove the S&P 500 up for six straight days.

Throughout the morning, the three major stock indexes flicked in and out of negative territory in choppy trading on light volume. Defensive sectors, such as healthcare and consumer staples, performed better as investors refrained from the more aggressive buying strategies that have driven cyclical areas of the market in recent days.

But there were signs that some investors were buying on dips, a strategy used since the major U.S. stock indexes began their climb from the lows of early March. The S&P 500 is up 61 percent from its 12-year closing low set on March 9.