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Are Jakarta's streets paved with gold?

Nirgunan Tiruchelvam
Nirgunan Tiruchelvam • 4 min read
Are Jakarta's streets paved with gold?
Indonesians are rushing to buy gold, hoping it will protect them from the impact of the tariff war / Photo: Shutterstock
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Hedge fund managers face ups and downs. A new TV show on Apple TV takes it to the extreme.

The show is called Your Friends and Neighbours. It stars Jo Hamm as Andrew Cooper, a down-and-out hedge fund manager who loses his job after a sex scandal. It is set in the outskirts of New York.

Cooper turns to petty theft. He wants to keep his family in the style that they are used to.

The neighbours are rich financiers with manicured lawns and tennis courts. A few have private jets.

Cooper sneaks into their houses during lawn parties. He steals Patek Philippe watches worth over US$200,000 ($263,000). He sells the merchandise for cash in a back alley.

The neighbours don't even notice. The items are so minor for the super-rich who feasted on the stock market boom.

See also: Next steps for Asean in a turbulent world

The show's release seems well-timed. Gold prices have been on a tear this year. The yellow metal is up 29% ytd, outperforming almost every asset class.

At US$3,500 per ounce, gold is at a record high. Analysts are getting more bullish. Goldman Sachs has outlined a scenario, which it may hit US$4,000 per ounce.

Major investors are fixated on buying physical gold. Trading in gold ETFs has tripled in 2025. Gold producers in the West, like AngloGold Ashanti, are soaring. It has doubled in the last year.

See also: ‘Limited near-term respite’ for Asean as Trump’s tariffs kick in: OCBC

Like the unsuspecting neighbours, there may be hidden opportunities. Indonesia's gold producers are similar to the Patek Philippe watches. They have been gathering value while investors have been feasting on the larger markets.

The main Indonesian gold stocks are trading at half the valuation of the major gold producers. The stocks include PT Aneka Tambang Tbk (ANTM IJ), PT Merdeka Copper Gold Tbk (MDKA) and United Tractors (UNTR IJ).

These companies are active gold miners that have invested heavily in capacity. Aneka Tambang is a state-owned enterprise with mines across Indonesia. Its gold ore mining is produced from two sites, Pongkor, West Java and Cibaliung. Capacity is expected to double in the next three years. If gold prices continue to rise, most of Aneka Tambang's operating earnings could be driven by gold. At 7 times EV/Ebitda, the stock is at an 80% discount to the major gold producers.

Merdeka Copper Gold is another prospect listed in Jakarta. Though it produces nickel, silver and copper, it may soon trade as a gold proxy. It is looking to rise at precisely the right time. It is looking to commission its Pani gold mine in Gorontalo province shortly. This could raise its gold capacity by at least 20%.

UNTR IJ is considered a gold stock due to its controlling stake in PT Agincourt Resources (PTAR IJ). PTAR operates the Martabe Gold Mine in North Sumatra. It was bought for US$775 million in 2015, but it may be worth twice that amount now.

PT Bank Syariah Indonesia (BRIS IJ) is another gold proxy. The Islamic financial institution is active as a lender against gold assets.

The cost of producing gold is falling in Indonesia. The average production cost is about US$1,300 per ounce. The costs are mainly denominated in Indonesian rupiah, which has fallen sharply. The costs include direct mining costs, labour and royalties.

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The Indonesian gold miners are well-placed to revel in the gold boom. The gross margins could be in excess of 60%. That is twice the 20-year average.

The P/B valuation of these stocks are well below the level at the midpoint of the previous gold price surge from 2009 to 2011. The stocks are trading at an average of 7 times FY2025 EV/Ebitda. This is one standard deviation below the 20-year average. The market may be overlooking these stocks unjustly.

However, these stocks have underperformed gold by 34% ytd. The stocks have underperformed due to the weakness of the JCI, which is down 11% ytd. The rupiah is down 5% ytd.

Indonesians are flocking to buy gold bars. They hope that the precious metal's value could shield them from the tariff war.

Investors can get exposure to gold without buying physical metal. There may be glittering opportunities in the stock market. There is no need for theft when there is value on the screens.

Nirgunan Tiruchelvam is head of consumer and internet at Aletheia Capital and author of Investing in the Covid Era

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