Commodities : Wheat Futures Retreat

Wheat Futures prices retreated Thursday with uncertainty over prospects for further sales of subsidized U.S. grain to the Soviet Union. Other grains and soybeans also declined.

On other markets, precious metals advanced; livestock and meat were mixed; and energy futures were mistly lower.

Wheat lost almost 10 cents a bushel, with the biggest part of the decline coming after an Agriculture Department official said further subsidized sales to the Soviet Union, while not out of the question, did not appear likely now.

There also were indications that hoped-for wheat sales to China were not likely, either.

The Soviet Union recently completed its purchase of the final portion of the 4 million tons it promised to take this year.

Corn and soybeans declined mostly because rain was forcast to move into areas that could use the moisture.

Precious metals futures advanced on the Commodity Exchange for the first time in six sessions.

“We had a pretty oversold condition and the market was ripe for some kind of bounce,” said Stephen W. Platt, and analyst with Dean Witter Reynolds.