By Jigar Trivedi Comex gold held just below $1,700 an ounce on Friday and finished fifth straight month on a lower side, pressured by strong US economic data that reinforces the Fed’s aggressive stance against inflation, having committed itself to keeping interest rates higher for longer. Manufacturing activity in the US grew steadily in August despite weakness in other major economies. Latest US employment data also remained solid. Elsewhere, eurozone inflation rate hit a new record high of 9.1% in August on high energy prices, bolstering speculations for a supersized 75 basis point rate hike from the European Central Bank …
