US STOCKS-Futures imply flat open; trend of small moves persists

By Ryan Vlastelica

NEW YORK, Sept 9 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures are pointing to a flat open on Tuesday, with investors once again finding few reasons to buy following a long-running rally that has taken indexes to repeated records.

Wall Street has been in a long-running upswing with little in the way of pronounced pullbacks. The S&P 500's last correction, defined as a pullback of 10 percent from a peak, was in 2012.

While market valuations are viewed as reasonable and able to support further gains, equity markets have been struggling for direction. Trading volume has recently been among the lowest of the year, while the S&P 500 has gone 14 sessions without a move of 0.5 percent on a closing basis. That represents the longest such streak since 1995, according to MKM Partners.

The 1995 streak ended with 14 sessions, and if the S&P closes with a move smaller than 0.5 percent on Tuesday, that would give it the longest run since February 1969.

"That streak ended with a 1.13 percent down day, followed by 5 more down days," wrote Jonathan Krinsky, chief market technician at MKM Partners in Greenwich, Connecticut. He added that four of the five longest streaks since 1980 ended with positive days.

Futures snapshot at 9:05:

* S&P 500 e-minis are falling 4 points, or 0.2 percent, with 148,501 contracts changing hands.

* Nasdaq 100 e-minis are down 2.25 points, or 0.05 percent, in volume of 27,736 contracts.

* Dow e-minis are down 34 points, or 0.2 percent, with 25,559 contracts changing hands. (Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, Chizu Nomiyama and Nick Zieminski)