North American stock markets ended with moderate losses Monday as investors awaited an expected interest rate hike in the U.S., gold futures plunged, and Nortel disappointed.

The S&P/TSX composite index lost 61.14 point, or 0.63%, to end the day at 9,693.55. Volume was 210 million shares.

Losses on the TSX were broadly based with every sector but real estate losing ground.

The biggest decline was in the gold sub-index, which fell 2.3% as gold futures tumbled $8.20 to US$431.10 an ounce.

Placer Dome dropped 53¢ to $20.52; Barrick Gold fell 49¢ to $29.71.

Gold fell as the U.S. dollar strengthened on world currency markets. The Canadian dollar ended with a loss of more than half a cent (0.55¢) to US82.61¢.

Gold fell ahead of tomorrow’s decision on interest rates by he U.S. Federal Reserve. The Fed is expected to hike its key overnight interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 2.75% tomorrow afternoon.

The TSX information technology group fell 1.5%, largely because of weakness in Nortel. Its shares fell 19¢ to $3.40 after it turned in third-quarter financial results that came up short of analysts’ estimates in both the top and bottom lines.

The heavily weighted financial index dropped 0.5%.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index 22.03 points, or 1.10%, to 1,978.77. Volume was 148 million shares.

Crude oil prices slipped one thin dime to US$56.62 a barrel after trading above the US$57 level earlier in the session.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 64.28 points, or 0.60%, to 10,565.39.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index lost a fraction of a point to close at 2,007.50.

The broader S&P 500 slipped 5.87 points, or 0.49%, to end at 1,183.78.