Adrian Ash, regular contributor to The Daily Reckoning, UK and head of research at BullionVault, analyzes the future of gold, as told by Chinese buying trends.

South Africa ’s power cuts are serious. There is no doubt about that. A contact, who recently returned from a business trip to Johannesburg, says outages were happening for between two and four hours a day.

Gold held around $905 until the opening of the New York session Thursday, then it became another smackdown day, with the price heading lower until early afternoon, after which it leveled off to finish at $886.60, down $18.20. Overnight, gold has edged lower.

Barely a comment on gold passes these days without reference to “investors”. A typical example of this was the comment of the prime gurus on the market research group GFMS in its latest survey just a couple of days ago. Since its analysts provide the data for the World Gold Council, it’s good to be up with their thinking.

Consumers feeling all the pain of 1982… Bernanke, Paulson prescribe “Doritos” cure…IEA slashes oil demand forecast… Why it still won’t mean a return to $80 oil…As GE goes, so goes the market… What Wall Street is overlooking…A bold gold forecast…and the reason to take it with a grain of salt…Are we in a commodities bubble? Let the debate begin!

So the commodity rally is over is it? That has been the view of many commentators over the last week – but Mr Market just doesn’t appear to be listening.