FTSE 250 movers: Oil surge lifts mid-caps, N Brown down

(ShareCast News) - Led by a group of resources stocks and a late surge in oil prices, the FTSE 250 moved into positive territory on Monday afternoon. Copper-focused Kaz Minerals and steel maker Evraz topped the leader board ahead of their third-quarter production updates later this month.There might have been some reflected glow from Vedanta Resources as the diversified miner, which received shareholder approval for the proposed merger with Cairn India last month, posted its production results for the second quarter and half-year to 30 September.Production was better than expected, with aluminium delivering a quarter of record production driven by planned capacity expansions and oil/gas, copper smelting and power were all solid, with Zinc India saw volumes recover strongly following a weak first quarter.Oil services group Hunting and FTSE 250 oil producer Cairn Energy saw their shares boosted later in the session as oil prices picked up.Shares in SVG Capital rose after US rival HarbourVest Bidco proposed to buy its investment portfolio for at least £783.1m, trumping the current offer from Goldman Sachs and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.HarbourVest said the offer price would enable a return of more than 700p per share to SVG's shareholders.The US firm said it expects "the board will be keen to explore this asset proposal given the clear value uplift it represents to shareholders".A strong early riser, William Hill was up by only 3% by late on Monday after it confirmed talks with Toronto-listed Amaya Inc, owner of the PokerStars website, about a potential merger.The bookmaker, responding after rumours emerged at the weekend, said the potential all-share merger of equals would be classified as a reverse takeover and would see the new company incorporated and listed in the UKBerenberg analysts said the positives for the deal were fulfilling the desire to increase digital exposure, geographical diversification and technological independence, there were concerns around that the value creation potential for William Hill's shareholders, the increase in non-regulated exposure, "slim potential" for cross-selling from poker to other verticals, the high leverage and the "sheer complexity" of the deal.One of the main fallers was clothing retailer N Brown, ahead of its interim results on Tuesday after a tough time for the sector.UBS has forecast profit will be down 18% year on year on consensus sales of £423m, up 1.7% year on year."The big questions will be on weakness of current trading in September and into October and whether the N Brown business model has become more flexible to offset some of the historic levels of discounting it has seen in periods of unseasonable weather."The recent announcement of the delay and incremental cost of the IT plan 'Fit for the Future' will likely attract a large degree of debate as to what the incremental cost is and why there was a delay."FTSE 250 - RisersKaz Minerals (KAZ) 252.70p 5.64%Evraz (EVR) 206.70p 4.45%CMC Markets (CMCX) 200.50p 3.89%Vedanta Resources (VED) 655.50p 3.72%Hunting (HTG) 525.50p 3.44%Ladbrokes (LAD) 137.90p 3.22%Cairn Energy (CNE) 204.50p 3.13%Hays (HAS) 135.20p 2.89%Smurfit Kappa Group (SKG) 1,823.00p 2.88%SVG Capital (SVI) 687.50p 2.84%FTSE 250 - FallersMoneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 284.50p -4.79%DFS Furniture (DFS) 246.50p -4.68%Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 177.30p -4.37%Marshalls (MSLH) 279.20p -3.22%Shawbrook Group (SHAW) 240.10p -3.19%Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 2,381.00p -3.01%Halfords Group (HFD) 320.50p -3.00%Countryside Properties (CSP) 230.50p -2.95%Workspace Group (WKP) 653.00p -2.90%Pets at Home Group (PETS) 219.30p -2.88%