How surging gold prices led to the biggest jump on this year’s Southeast Asia 500
As geopolitical unease intensified last year, central banks and retail investors worldwide piled into gold. In 2025, global demand for the precious metal surged 84% to 2,175 tons, according to the World Gold Council. Gold prices hit a record high in January, at $5,589.38 per ounce.
Yet nowhere is gold’s gravitational pull more pronounced than in Asia, where it has long served as the preferred way to transfer generational wealth. Indonesian gold retailer Hartadinata Abadi jumped 115 places on the Fortune Southeast Asia 500, rising to No. 129 after a 135% surge in revenue; it’s the biggest climber on this year’s ranking.
”Gold has traditionally been part of the investment culture across Indonesia and Southeast Asia, often passed down through generations as a store of wealth,” says Thendra Crisnanda, Hartadinata’s director of investor relations. ”But following the COVID-19 pandemic, we have observed a meaningful shift in demand from gold jewellery toward gold investments, especially in gold bars and bullion-related products.”
Bullion made up 98% of Hartadinata’s $27.2 million revenue in the first quarter of 2026. Jewelry, historically the company’s core business, contributed a meager 2%.
This shift to bullion mirrors a well-established pattern of investors flocking to gold as a safe haven asset amid economic uncertainty.
“When COVID-19 hit, young investors saw how businesses were shut down, and the stock and property markets took a hit,” says Joshua Rotbart, founder and managing partner of bullion firm J. Rotbart & Co, which operates across five locations in Asia and the Middle East. “They’ve now experienced a crisis, and know how it feels to see their equities portfolio drop by 30%.”
Gold funds have also exploded in popularity. Endowus, a Singapore-based digital wealth management platform, reported a tenfold jump in assets under advisory in precious metals over 2025, from $4.2 million in the beginning of the year to $47.9 million by its end.
“We expect continued interest in gold, particularly in Asia,” says Hugh Chung, Endowus’ chief investment officer. “The combination of financial uncertainty, dollar concerns, and growing accessibility through digital platforms means more investors will explore gold as part of a diversified portfolio.”
Why gold is surging
Central banks across the globe are increasingly forsaking U.S. Treasuries for gold bars. In 2025, gold accounted for 27% of global central bank reserves, overtaking U.S. treasury bonds at 22%. It’s the first time gold has overtaken Treasuries in two decades.
“For the last 20 to 30 years, the de facto ‘risk-free’ safe haven asset was U.S. government bonds, because if you lent money to the U.S. government, for sure you’d get it back,” says Stephanie Leung, chief investment officer at StashAway, a Singapore-based robo-adviser. “But now, the U.S. has entered a period where fiscal spending is increasing very rapidly, and it’s stepping back from its role policing the world.”
The buying up of gold by central banks also signals to retail investors that the asset is worth buying, adds Rotbart. “If you’re a Chinese citizen and you see the Chinese government massively holding gold, it gives a sense that since the government is buying it to protect themselves, retail investors should do the same.” (The People’s Bank of China has been buying gold for 18 straight months, as of May 2026.)
Digital trading platforms also make it easier for ordinary people to invest in gold. The 400-ounce gold bar, the global standard for trading, can cost millions of dollars, too much for most retail investors.
“If you’re a young professional, your ability to come to firms like us to buy gold is quite limited,” says Rotbart, who mostly serves high-net-worth individuals and family offices. But it’s “much more accessible” to “log into your phone and save some money as gold,” he adds.
In 2024, StashAway started to include gold in its managed portfolios. ”If you think about traditional portfolios, they’re typically 60% equity and 40% bonds,” says Leung. ”Our balanced portfolios now look more like 60% equity, 30% bonds, and 10% gold.”
Asian gold investors are getting younger. According to Leung, 67% of gold investors on StashAway’s platform are between 25 and 44. “You would think that people who invest in gold tend to be older and more mature, but that’s no longer the case,” she says.
Other precious metals surged as well. Silver jumped 145% in 2025, the biggest annual gain on record. “Silver has a different draw from gold,” says Rotbart. “It has significant industrial use cases, and these days is mainly used in solar panels.”
Palladium and platinum, essential components of automobile engines, also rose more than 90% and close to 160% respectively in 2025.
“As an asset class, precious metals have a high correlation in performance,” said Leung. “So when gold rallies, it’s very likely you’ll see silver rally, and then palladium.”
Investors are now barreling into more base metals and rare earths, notes Hou Wey Fook, chief investment officer at DBS. “Investors are increasingly seeking exposure to scarce and tangible assets,” he said. “While not traditional safe havens, they can provide diversification benefits and help preserve purchasing power in an inflationary environment.”
Gold’s run may be coming to a close
Despite its historic 2025 run, gold’s behavior since the Iran war is marring its reputation as a safe-haven asset. Since the U.S. launched strikes on Iran in late February, gold has fallen roughly 14% from its peak and now trades below $4,500 per ounce.
Afdhal Rahman, OCBC Bank’s executive director of wealth advisory, attributes the retreat to the energy shock triggered by the conflict and its inflationary implications. Central banks often combat inflation by raising interest rates, thus incentivizing investors to rotate into yield-bearing assets like bonds, rather than hold onto gold, which generates neither income nor dividends. (Any expectation that the Federal Reserve will be cutting interest rates has also evaporated, further driving down the value of gold.)
Moreover, while the greenback has held strong amid the ongoing Middle East conflict, many Asian currencies like the Indian rupee and Philippine peso have significantly depreciated. This makes it more expensive for foreign currency holders to purchase gold, which is denominated in U.S. dollars.
Therefore, experts urge investors not to rush to buy gold when its price rallies, but instead view it as part of a diverse portfolio. The Bank of Singapore, OCBC’s private banking arm, advises that gold should constitute a conservative 4% of investment portfolios.
“Gold should be viewed as a complement to a diversified portfolio, not a replacement for it,” Chung concludes. “Diversification remains the only free lunch in investing. That principle applies as much to gold as it does to any other asset.”
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
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