The Art Deco facade of the original Toronto Stock Exchange building is seen on Bay Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada January 23, 2019. REUTERS/Chris Helgren

By Ragini Mathur

(Reuters) -Canada's main stock index was nearly flat on Tuesday, taking a breather after its recent record-breaking rally, as focus shifted to Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump's meeting scheduled later in the day.

Toronto's S&P/TSX composite index was down 0.1% at 30,502.53 points, after seven consecutive sessions of gains and multiple record highs.

Carney is making his second visit to the White House in five months, facing increasing pressure to address U.S. tariffs on steel, autos and other goods hurting Canada's economy.

A Canadian government official and several analysts, however, played down the chances of an imminent trade deal with Trump.

"Our focus has shifted onto the fact that our Prime Minister is visiting Mr. Trump today to presumably talk about tariffs but I'm not sure that the market is expecting too much to come out of that", said Michael Sprung, president at Sprung Investment Management.

On TSX, nine out of ten sectors were trading in the red, with consumer staples leading the declines, falling 0.8%.

Sprung added that investors might be a bit more defensive and consider "taking a little bit off the table" where there are significant profits.

On the positive side, information technology stocks rose 0.8%, building on the gains from the previous session.

Healthcare sector also rose 1.6% after declining in the previous two sessions.

With the U.S. government shutdown ongoing and a dearth of fresh economic data, investors will be closely monitoring Federal Reserve commentary from officials, including Vice Chair Michelle Bowman and several regional Fed presidents.

Market participants are also awaiting this week's Canadian employment report, which will provide crucial insights into the country's economic health and likely influence the Bank of Canada's upcoming monetary policy decisions.

(Reporting by Ragini Mathur in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)