The Boral Limited (ASX: BLD) share price fluctuated today after the company recommended shareholders reject Seven Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: SVW)’s bid to increase its stake in the company.

At one point during intraday trade, shares in the construction materials company broke their 52-week record again and hit $7.36. At close of trade, however, its shares ended at $7.34 – flat on Friday’s close.

Let’s take a closer look at today’s news.

Why the Boral share price was in focus today

In a statement to the ASX, Boral recommended its shareholders reject the updated offer from Seven Holdings for up to 34.5% of its company for $7.40 a share. Seven’s initial bid of $6.50 a share was rejected for “undervaluing the company by 40%”.

As a result, Seven made a second bid of $7.30 a share on the proviso it increases its stake in Boral to 29.5%, or $7.40 a share if they obtain 34.5% of the company.

Boral says shareholders should continue to reject this offer from Seven and gave the following reasons.

• The new price of $7.30 or $7.40 is not guaranteed. If not enough shareholders accept the offer, an investor agrees to sell their shares to Seven Holdings for the original bid of $6.50.
• Boral says Seven’s latest offer still does not reach fair value. According to the company, the Boral share price is valued between $8.25 and $9.13. Boral believes Seven’s offer should be at this level if it wishes to increase its influence in the company. The construction materials business called Seven’s offer “opportunistic.”
• Boral claims it is unlocking “significant value” for shareholders in the near term. Its recent sale of its North American business should result in a distribution of around $3.02 per share to shareholders, according to the statement. However, Seven has slammed the deal as a “rushed process” and a bargain price for the buyer.

Seven Holdings has made no comment at this time on Boral’s latest rejection.

Boral share price snapshot

Over the past 12 months, the Boral share price has almost doubled – rising by 94.7% in the period. The last time Boral’s share price was around its current levels was in April 2018, hovering around $7.30.

Boral has a market capitalisation of $8.7 billion.

The post Boral (ASX:BLD) share price seesaws after rejecting increased bid appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• ASX 200 rises, Charter Hall up, Boral jumps
• Boral (ASX:BLD) share price surges 6% on changes to Seven takeover bid
• ASX 200 drops, CBA sinks, Boral sells US division

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US$3.6 billion (AU$4.7 billion) of Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) is still AWOL.

This comes after Ameer and Raees Cajee (I’ll let you draw your own conclusions on the irony of their last name.) allegedly disappeared with the fortune in Bitcoin.

The brothers operated Africrypt, a cryptocurrency investment platform based out of South Africa, since in 2019.

In April, they told clients that their platform had been hacked, and urged them not to contact authorities as that would complicate attempts to retrieve the missing Bitcoin.

Brothers not answering family or clients

Despite efforts by authorities to locate the pair to date, including attempting to track any of the missing Bitcoin that may be exchanged for fiat currencies, the brothers’ whereabouts – as well as the fate of the $4.7 billion worth of digital tokens – remains unknown.

As Bloomberg reports, “It’s still hard to establish the whereabouts of Ameer and Raees Cajee… They appear to have vanished, along with an estimated [US]$3.6 billion in Bitcoin.”

The Cajee’s lawyer, John Oosthuizen, said the brothers “categorically denied” stealing the crypto, insisting they were the victims of an April hack. A cyber breach they never reported to police. The lawyer also suggested the amount of the missing funds has been exaggerated.

At the end of the day, regardless of how the fortune in Bitcoin disappeared, real people are smarting from the losses.

Attorney Gerhard Botha, working on behalf of some of Africrypt’s customers said, “There were rich people, without a doubt,” Botha said. “And people that invested their parents’ pension funds.”

Yet another handy reminder never to invest money into cryptos you can’t afford to lose.

Bitcoin price gaining today

It’s unclear what Bitcoin price was used to come up with the US$3.6 billion sum for the missing funds.

Whatever price was used, whoever has their virtual hands on those Bitcoin has seen the value of their stolen hoard increase 4% over the past 24 hours.

At the time of writing, one Bitcoin is worth US$34,345. That’s after hitting a low over the past 24 hours of US$32,385.

The post $4.7 billion of Bitcoin still missing in alleged mass fraud appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Bitcoin. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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While the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) may be trading close to its record high, not all shares on the benchmark index have fared so well.

Two ASX 200 shares that are trading significantly lower this year are listed below. Could this be a buying opportunity for investors?

Appen Ltd (ASX: APX)

The Appen share price has been a particularly poor performer in 2021. Since the start of the year, the artificial intelligence (AI) data services company’s shares have lost 44% of their value. This has been driven by softening demand for its services during the pandemic from some of its biggest customers.

Management appears confident that demand will rebound strongly and its growth will accelerate again. Particularly given its plan to evolve into a provider of a broad range of AI data annotation products and solutions that unlock growth in new markets.

One leading broker that believes the weakness in the Appen share price is a buying opportunity is Ord Minnett. Last month the broker put a buy rating and $24.75 price target on its shares.

Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN)

The Kogan share price has also been out of form in 2021. And despite a recent and significant rebound by its shares, they are still down by almost a third year to date.

This has been caused by an abrupt end to its impressive growth after consumers started to shop offline again. While slowing sales growth is disappointing, the company’s inventory management was even worse. Kogan ended up with far more stock than it could handle, leading to heavy discounting and increased marketing to help shift it.

However, this is only expected to be a short term headwind and the company has been tipped to resume its strong growth again once its inventory levels are balanced out. This may end up happening quicker than anticipated following the lockdown in Sydney.

Credit Suisse is positive on the company and currently has an outperform rating and $17.93 price target on its shares.

The post 2 beaten down ASX 200 shares that could be buys appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• These were the best-performing ASX 200 shares last week

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Appen Ltd and Kogan.com ltd. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Appen Ltd and Kogan.com ltd. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Ardea Resources Ltd (ASX: ARL) share price is racing higher during late afternoon trade. This comes after the minerals mining company provided an update on its recent capital raise.

At the time of writing, Ardea shares are up 6.54% to 57 cents – slightly below its 52-week high of 63 cents.

What’s driving the Ardea share price higher?

Ardea shares are roaring higher following a successful capital raise to accelerate the Kalgoorlie Nickel Project (KNP) feasibility work.

According to its release, the company announced it has received $5.7 million in binding commitments by a way of placement. The offer saw sophisticated investor and professional clients apply for the shares, showing strong support.

Around 10.3 million new ordinary shares will be added to its registry at a price of 55 cents a pop. This represents a premium of 2.8% to the last closing price of 53.5 cents on 25 June 2021.

Ardea will use its existing placement capacity to create the new shares. Under listing rule 7.1A, this allows up to 15% of its total shares to be issued without shareholder approval.

The proceeds of the placement will see Ardea fund hydrology and metallurgical drilling programs, metallurgical test work, and pit optimisation studies. In addition, an independent engineering group has been approached to complete a gap analysis of previous KNP feasibility studies. This is expected to be finalised before Ardea begins metallurgical programs at the site.

It’s expected the placement’s new shares will be settled on or around 5 July 2021.

Management commentary

Ardea managing director, Andrew Penkethman touched on the company’s progress, saying:

We have drill rigs contracted for the KNP Goongarrie Hub to commence drilling water production bores and metallurgical core holes during the September 2021 Quarter.

Borefield exploration drilling has recently been completed and defined production bore targets are ready for drilling. This hydrology drilling will lock in secure process water supplies for the development of our nickel and critical mineral resources at the Goongarrie production hub.

…We will also be assessing options to recover additional critical minerals, in addition to the planned nickel-cobalt and scandium production. All of these work streams will further enhance the Kalgoorlie Nickel Project and build upon the prefeasibility and expansion studies completed by Ardea in 2018.

The Ardea share price has gained 110% in the last 12 months, and is up over 40% in 2021.

The post Why the Ardea Resources (ASX:ARL) share price is soaring 7% higher appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• The Zip (ASX:Z1P) share price is down 6%…profit taking, competition or lockdown fears?
• Firefinch (ASX: FFX) share price sinks on capital raising efforts

Motley Fool contributor Aaron Teboneras has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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At the start of each week I like to look at ASIC’s short position report to find out which shares are being targeted by short sellers.

This is because I believe it is well worth keeping a close eye on short interest levels as high levels can sometimes be a sign that something isn’t quite right with a company.

With that in mind, here are the 10 most shorted shares on the ASX this week according to ASIC:

• Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN) remains the most shorted share on the ASX with short interest of 11.5%, which was down slightly week on week once again. Short sellers have been targeting Kogan due to significant inventory issues and a slowdown in sales. However, the recent outbreak of COVID-19 has given Kogan’s shares a major boost, much to the dismay of short sellers.
• Webjet Limited (ASX: WEB) has seen its short interest rise to 10.6%. Short sellers appear to believe this online travel agent’s shares are overvalued given the stuttering travel market recovery. Especially considering the recent outbreak in Sydney.
• Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) has seen its short interest ease to 9%. As with Webjet, lockdowns and border closures appear to be weighing on this travel agent as well. There are concerns that the domestic travel market recovery could be derailed by the latest COVID outbreak.
• Inghams Group Ltd (ASX: ING) has 8.8% of its shares held short, which is up week on week once again. Short sellers may have concerns over risks associated with an upcoming major contract renewal with a supermarket giant.
• Electro Optic Systems Hldg Ltd (ASX: EOS) has 8.4% of its shares held short, which is down week on week once again. There are concerns this communications, defence, and space company could be negatively impacted by supply chain issues. Unusual accounting methods and its lack of cash generation could also be weighing on sentiment.
• Tassal Group Limited (ASX: TGR) has short interest of 8.1%, which is down notably week on week. Short sellers may be closing positions on the belief that salmon prices are rebounding.
• Resolute Mining Limited (ASX: RSG) has seen its short interest tumble to 8%. Short sellers may believe this gold miner is now over the worst of its issues. These include production disruption and regulatory concerns.
• Temple & Webster Group Ltd (ASX: TPW) has seen its short interest ease to 7.9%. Short sellers may be regretting this one. As with Kogan, the recent outbreak of COVID-19 has given ecommerce companies a major lift.
• Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) has short interest of 7.4%, which is up week on week. Short sellers could believe that Zip’s Quadpay business will be disrupted by Afterpay’s new pay anywhere service.
• Metcash Limited (ASX: MTS) has re-entered the top ten with short interest of 7%. However, unfortunately for short sellers, the Metcash share price is pushing higher today after delivering strong profit growth in FY 2021 and announcing a share buyback.

The post These are the 10 most shorted shares on the ASX appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• The Zip (ASX:Z1P) share price is down 6%…profit taking, competition or lockdown fears?
• Why Atomo, Metcash, Temple & Webster, & Woolworths are pushing higher
• The Kogan (ASX:KGN) share price jumped 10% this morning
• Temple & Webster share price surges with other ASX COVID winners
• ASX 200 down 0.1%: Metcash results, Costa returns, travel shares sink

Motley Fool contributor James Mickleboro has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended Electro Optic Systems Holdings Limited, Kogan.com ltd, Temple & Webster Group Ltd, and ZIPCOLTD FPO. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended Electro Optic Systems Holdings Limited, Kogan.com ltd, and Webjet Ltd. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Flight Centre Travel Group Limited and Temple & Webster Group Ltd. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) share price is sliding today, down 6% in afternoon trading.

At the current price of $7.74 per share, Zip Co has a market cap of $4.4 billion.

So why are shares of the popular buy now, pay later company sinking today?

We have 3 suspicions.

Why is the Zip share price falling today?

First off, Zip enjoyed a stellar run in June, right through last Wednesday’s close.

From the opening bell on 1 June through to the closing bell on 23 June, Zip soared 23% to $8.60 per share. That leads me to suspect there could be some profit taking going on.

With today’s intraday losses taken into account, Zip’s shares are now down 10% since Wednesday’s close. Though year-to-date the BNPL company remains up 38%.

Whether that remains the case is up in the air. As my Foolish colleague, Tristan Harrison, pointed out last week, Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) rates Zip as a sell, with a target price for the shares of $5.70. UBS also believes the Zip share price will head lower, with a target price of $5.60.

Another possible reason for the selloff could be resurgent lockdown fears. With Australia facing the dire prospect of more long-term lockdowns to stamp down the coronavirus, Zip’s BNPL services may face a drop in demand.

Finally, the market was made aware of a big positive for BNPL powerhouse Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) on Friday, and hence a likely negative for Zip. Afterpay’s new pay anywhere offering has been adopted by a host of major US retailers.

According to another Foolish colleague, James Mickleboro, broker “Citi believes that Afterpay’s new offering will increase customer engagement in the US market and put pressure on Zip’s US-based QuadPay business.”

Whatever the reasons, investors are certainly putting pressure on Zip’s share price today.

The post The Zip (ASX:Z1P) share price is down 6%…profit taking, competition or lockdown fears? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. owns shares of and has recommended AFTERPAY T FPO and ZIPCOLTD FPO. The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of and has recommended AFTERPAY T FPO. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Firefinch Ltd (ASX: FFX) share price has come out of a trading halt today as one of the worst performers on the ASX. This comes after the gold producer and lithium developer provided an update to its capital raising efforts.

At the time of writing, Firefinch shares are down a sizeable 8.89% to 41 cents.

What’s sending Firefinch shares lower?

One catalyst for the huge falls in the Firefinch share price today may be investor fears over an impending share dilution.

According to its release, Firefinch has successfully raised $47 million (before costs) by a way of placement. The company received strong support from both existing and new shareholders, including a number of high-quality Australian and global institutions.

The offer will see roughly 117 million new ordinary shares, at a price of 40 cents each, allocated to participating investors. This represents an 11.1% discount on the issued capital prior to when the company announced the placement (45 cents).

Firefinch will seek to use the proceeds from the capital raise together with its anticipated debt facility for various initiatives. This includes accelerating production growth at the Morila Gold Mine to 200,000 ounces by 2024. The company will also allocate funds to continuing exploration and resource development drilling at the Morila Super Pit.

In addition, Firefinch will proceed with the demerger of the Goulamina Lithium Project into a separate ASX-listed company.

Firefinch managing director, Michael Anderson commented:

…This equity funding, combined with the expected debt funding during the September quarter of 2021, will enable us to deliver on our strategic vision of becoming a West African gold producer of scale, as well as progress our Goulamina demerger plans.

About the Firefinch share price

Over the past year, Firefinch shares have surged almost 300%, with year-to-date sitting at gains of 120%. The company’s share price reached a multi-year high of 57 cents in the middle of this month, before heading lower.

Based on today’s price, Firefinch has a market capitalisation of around $321 million, with about 785 million shares on issue.

The post Firefinch (ASX: FFX) share price sinks on capital raising efforts appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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• Firefinch (ASX:FFX) share price soars 11% on lithium joint venture

Motley Fool contributor Aaron Teboneras has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.

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There is one event that could see ASX shares plunge, and we’re closer than ever to it occurring, warned one expert.

Betashares chief economist David Bassanese said that last week’s preliminary May retail sales figures were “weaker than expected”, with Victoria’s recent lockdown a contributor.

But the big development was further north.

“The other major news, of course, was the rising COVID case count in Sydney and the eventual announcement of a 2-week lock down of the metropolitan area — including yours truly!” he said in a memo to clients.

“Perhaps it’s no surprise Australian equities lagged last week.”

On Monday morning, NSW had recorded 18 further cases of coronavirus community transmissions in 24 hours. The state has seen 121 cases in total over the past week.

Until 11:59pm 9 July, Sydney residents are forbidden from leaving the metropolitan area. They are also required to stay home unless they head out for one of just 4 essential reasons.

This week is huge

Bassanese was wary of whether the virus could be suppressed in Sydney and how much the fast-moving Delta variant could spread into other states.

“A broadening in lockdowns to other states and/or an escalating Sydney case count — suggesting a longer than 2-week lockdown — will be increasingly hard for the currently buoyant Australian share market to ignore.”

Rising, or even a steady level of, coronavirus cases in Sydney could force the NSW Government to extend the current lockdown.

And that’s the one event that could bring ASX shares to their knees, according to Bassanese.

“Australia’s low vaccination rollout makes the economy increasingly vulnerable given the new highly contagious COVID delta-variant sweeping the world,” he said.

“Extended lockdowns could severely knock economic growth in the short-term and see the local share market materially lag its global peers.”

Bassanese has recent history on his side.

Last year, as federal and state governments first introduced restrictions in March, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) plunged more than 32% in just one month.

Similar to that time, the big four Australian banks have already pledged to assist customers distressed from the current NSW lockdown.

The measures include waiving fees or deferring loan repayments.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) chief Matt Comyn said last week that his thoughts were with NSW customers.

“We know this lockdown will have an impact on the Sydney-based business community and we’ve been speaking to our customers to understand if they need assistance.

“We would encourage anyone who banks with us and [is] facing difficulties to get in touch with us.”

The post Warning: One thing could plunge ASX shares into crisis appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Tony Yoo has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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Shares in Nusantara Resources Ltd (ASX: NUS) are soaring today on news the miner is likely to be acquired by Indika Energy. At the time of writing, the Nusantara share price is trading at 34 cents – 11.48% higher than its previous closing price.

Nusantara announced today it has entered a scheme of arrangement for its major shareholder to purchase all Nusantara shares that it doesn’t already own for 35 cents apiece.

Let’s take a closer look at today’s news from the Australia-based gold and minerals explorer.

Acquisition proposal

Indika’s offer of 35 cents per share is a 19% premium on the 5-day volume-weighted average price of Nusantara’s shares and values the company at around $80 million.

The two companies are currently joint venture partners in the Indonesian-based Awak Mas gold project. Nusantara holds 75% of the project while Indika holds 25%.

Nusantara announced news of Awak Mas’ front end engineering and design (FEED) process today. According to Nusantara, the FEED is nearly complete and will form the basis of the mine’s definitive feasibility study (DFS). Nusantara plans to update the market on Awak Mas’ DFS next month.

The company’s independent board committee said the acquisition would help the company avoid potentially higher than expected costs of Awak Mas, continued COVID-19 disruptions, and the challenges junior ASX mining companies faced when trying to finance projects in foreign jurisdictions.

Nusantara’s independent board committee has recommended that the company’s shareholders vote in favour of the acquisition. However, their advice depends on an independent expert report finding the acquisition is in Nusantara shareholders’ best interest. Additionally, their advice depends upon Nusantara receiving no better offer.

Nusantara’s second and third-largest shareholders, whose combined holdings make up 26.7% of the company, have indicated they intend to vote in favour of the acquisition.

Indika’s proposal will face a vote by Nusantara’s shareholders in September.

Nusantara share price snapshot

Today’s gains have seen the Nusantara share price make it out of the red on the ASX.

Currently, shares in Nusantara have gained 17% year to date. However, they’ve just broken even with their share price 12 months ago.

The company has a market capitalisation of around $69 million, with approximately 229 million shares outstanding.

The post Here’s why the Nusantara (ASX:NUS) share price is up 11% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Brooke Cooper has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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The Freelancer Ltd (ASX: FLN) share price is performing strongly today. At the time of writing, shares in the crowdsourcing marketplace are swapping hands for $1.20, up 7.1%.

Below we run through the company’s latest announcement regarding the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Awarded NASA task order

Investors are buying up shares in the freelancing and crowdsourcing marketplace platform after the company announced it had secured a NASA contract.

According to the release, the contract is for a US$510,000 task order for the United States Bureau of Reclamation project. This seeks to optimise and speed up an equation solver for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models. In simpler terms, computer-generated simulations.

Freelancer’s platform will be used to crowdsource solutions to the Sedimentation and River Hydraulics challenge. The goal is for a freelancer to devise a stable and fast equation for CFD models that can run on a multi-core personal computer.

Chief Executive Matt Barrie commented on the contract win:

To date, NASA has sourced over 13,000 product designs from more than 6,000 product designers. We’re excited to help Reclamation and NASA improve the speed of Sedimentation and River Hydraulics Model using the world’s largest online talent in what will be the new largest challenge yet by an order of magnitude.

Furthermore, the prize money allotted to the successful freelancer is US$300,000. This will be split across two stages, paying US$150,000 each. The first stage will consist of the development and demonstration of a new equation solver.

Subsequently, stage 2 will involve running an existing Reclamation model in parallel with the new solver.

Not its first space rodeo

NASA’s crowdsourcing approach is not a new phenomenon. The first round of crowdsourcing contracts rolled out back in 2015. Fast forward to late 2020, the space agency launched its second crack with NASA Open Innovation Services 2.

Notably, Freelancer has had its fair share of NASA contracts in the past. Peering over at the company’s website, you can see a range of gadgets and gizmos developed by people on the platform.

In this case, the latest contract is not yet live on the Freelancer platform. The company states it will be launched via a microsite at a date to be announced.

Freelancer share price snapshot

The Freelancer share price has performed exceptionally well year-to-date (YTD). Since the beginning of 2021, the company’s shares have rallied an impressive 144%. Comparatively, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has returned 9.2% over the same timeframe.

Lastly, the company’s market capitalisation is now $505 million based on the current Freelancer share price.

The post Here’s why the Freelancer (ASX:FLN) share price is surging 7% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

More reading

• The ASX shares most impacted by Australia’s job squeeze
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• 3 ASX shares ready to go off this year: experts
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Motley Fool contributor Mitchell Lawler has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Freelancer Limited. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Bruce Jackson.

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