May 20, 1981

Normally, Benjamin Wong rarely has time to chat during trading hours on New York's Commodity Exchange. His eyes dart from the overhead quote boards to the gold futures trading pit to the stack of order cards he keeps close to his chest. Now and then, he will dash into the pit, shouting and flailing this arms, the normal way of executing orders. Things are a little different right now, though. ''The markets are dull,'' said Mr. Wong, a gold trader for Rudolf Wolff Commodity Brokers Inc., the New York branch of the old London metals brokerage house. ''What we see here are floor traders trying to scalp a few dollars on relatively narrow price moves. In the gold pit, we see New York up a few dollars, then Hong Kong sells and vice versa. That's how it's been for months.''

Five British soldiers were killed today in an Irish Republican Army ambush apparently timed to coincide with the imminent death of another prison hunger striker. The soldiers died instantly when an armored personnel carrier in which they were riding on a quiet country road was blown up by a mine. The explosion scattered pieces of the nine-ton vehicle for several hundred yards. 'Just Lifted Up Into the Air' ''It just lifted up into the air and broke into bits,'' said a farmer who saw the explosion from his sheep meadow. ''I saw the soldiers and I knew right away they were dead. It was horrible.''

The Landmarks Preservation Commission voted yesterday to create a historic district on a gilded stretch of Manhattan's East Side that abuts Central Park and forms an architectural evocation of old New York. The designation, which follows two years of debate and study, in effect confers landmark status on 1,044 buildings on nearly every block between 61st and 79th Streets and from Fifth to Lexington Avenue. The area is dominated by buildings in the beaux arts and neo-Georgian styles and represents what the commission called ''a remarkably cohesive ensemble.'' Significant Changes Barred Landowners are now automatically prohibited from significantly altering the facades of properties in the district unless they get approval from the commission or its staff.

The pretax profits of American corporations continued to rise in the first quarter of 1981 but at a slower rate than in the previous three months, the Commerce Department reported today. But another Commerce Department yardstick - profits from current production - rose at the highest annual rate in almost three years. The statistics were released as part of the department's report showing that inflation-adjusted gross national product rose at an annual rate of 8.4 percent in the first quarter, rather than the already hefty 6.5 percent reported last month.

Italian police sources said today that the man who is accused of shooting Pope John Paul II last week has told investigators that he had previously considered killing the British monarch, the Secretary General of the United Nations and the President of the European Parliament. The sources said the alleged assailant, Mehmet Ali Agca, made his startling statement yesterday morning in a conversation with Achille Gallucci, one of the magistrates assigned to the case. The account lent credence to the thesis that Mr. Agca's views are essentially anarchistic, growing out of a hatred of authority, rather than conventionally left-wing or right-wing. 'Positive Developments' Reported The Pope's condition continued to improve, with his temperature dropping to about 98.6, according to this morning's medical bulletin. The bulletin reported ''positive developments'' in his recovery, and the Pope's doctors said he had taken oral nourishment - sugared water and weak tea - for the first time since the shooting in St. Peter's Square last Wednesday.