can I attach more than one action to a mail rule e.g. to move and then mark as read

You can add multiple actions to a rule, just click the + button next to the first action.

I think there are cases where the preceding action might prevent the following actions, so you may have to do them in certain order.

Rules are only applied to incoming emails. If an email is moved then additional rules will not be applied because the email is no longer in the inbox. Reorder your rules to mark the email read then secondly, move the email.