The industrial engineering sector was making gains on Wednesday, as Charter International recovered from last week's sell-off.Engineering conglomerate Melrose has been in discussions with rival Charter about making a possible 780p-a-share offer for the company, it confirmed today. The offer values Charter, which on Monday announced the departure of its chief executive after last week warning that profits will be lower than expected due tough trading at its welding unit, at about £1.3bn. Shares in both companies were higher after the announcement, but Charter stood out as a notable mover, with shares rocketing 167.5p (27.2%) to 782.5p as of 15:35 in the afternoon.Meanwhile, the retailers were unwanted, with Marks & Spencer, Kingfisher and Next among the worst performers on the FTSE 100.BCTop performing sectors so far todayIndustrial Metals & Mining 7,523.14 +4.46%Industrial Engineering 7,420.08 +4.03%Personal Goods 22,688.75 +3.33%Automobiles & Parts 5,277.01 +2.50%General Industrials 3,200.95 +2.48%Bottom performing sectors so far todayHousehold Goods & Home Construction 6,587.77 -1.20%General Retailers 1,688.33 -0.99%Technology Hardware & Equipment 747.72 -0.36%Tobacco 30,523.21 -0.05%