P.M. BRIEFING : Exchanges in Probe May Merge

NEW YORK — Two of the nation’s leading commodity exchanges under investigation for illegal trading practices announced today they will hold talks to merge into a single, more efficient market.

The talks would merge the New York Mercantile Exchange, the world’s largest energy market, and the Commodity Exchange Inc., a leading exchange for precious metals.

Many of the terms for the consolidation, including the extent the liquid capital reserves of each exchange would be made available to the new entity, “remain to be determined,” a joint statement said.

Any agreement would be subject to approval by members and the government’s Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

The CFTC last year launched a criminal investigation into “front-running”--the practice of profiting from information obtained from customers by traders buying first for their own accounts. Last May, federal agents with search warrants invaded the trading floors of the two exchanges to issue subpoenas to scores of traders for information.