Shanghai copper hovers below record high

Shanghai copper hovered below a record high on Thursday as Chinese demand picked up and the US dollar weakened. The most-active copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed daytime trading up 1.0 per cent to 96,210 yuan ($13,732.51) a metric tonne, reports Reuters.

Shanghai copper hit an all-time high of 96,750 yuan a ton on Wednesday, while the London benchmark also set a peak at $12,282, nearing the $12,300 mark.

The London market was closed for the Christmas Holiday.

Copper's rise came as Chinese demand picked up in the run-up to the holiday season.

Yangshan copper premium, a gauge of Chinese appetite for seaborne copper units, has been on the rise from the beginning of December and rallied to its highest since late September at $55 a tonne, after hovering below $40 since mid-October.

Meanwhile, China's top smelters decided not to set guidance for copper concentrate processing fees for the first quarter of 2026 in a meeting on Thursday, as they grapple with historically low charges amid raw material supply shortage.

Investors are betting on more cuts in interest rates by the US Federal Reserve next year, leading to continuing weakness in the US dollar.

Elsewhere among SHFE base metals, aluminium was up 0.29 per cent, and lead rose 1.05 per cent. Zinc dropped 0.56 per cent. Nickel saw a six-day rally end, declining 1.22 per cent. Tin lost 1.18 per cent.