* Healthcare, utilities rise while materials lead declines

* AIG up 4.2 pct after Moody's upbeat comments

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By Rodrigo Campos

NEW YORK, Nov 10 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were little changed on Tuesday, stalling the S&P 500 index's string of six straight advances, as investors paused to assess recent gains.

Shares of industrial materials companies and banks, which led Monday's broad advance that took the Dow to a 13-month high, were Tuesday's laggards. Shares in the healthcare and utilities sectors were among the few gainers.

"Once again (the decline) is very well contained. Investors continue to be rewarded for buying into any pullback and that's been the situation since March," said Scott Marcouiller, senior equity market strategist at Wells Fargo Advisors in St. Louis.

"There have been plenty of cases where you thought 'this is the real correction' and it hasn't happened, so you assume corrections are going to continue to be modest."