Shanghai copper hovered below a record high on Thursday ‍as Chinese ‍demand picked up and the U.S. dollar ​weakened.
              
The most-active copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange ⁠rose 0.40% to 95,640 yuan  ($13,651.55) a metric ton as ⁠of 0330 GMT.
            
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 is 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 ton, after hovering below $40 since mid-October.
              
Investors are betting on more cuts in interest rates by the U.S. Federal Reserve next year, leading to continuing weakness in the U.S. dollar.

Elsewhere among ⁠SHFE base metals, aluminium was little ‌changed, and lead rose 1.02%.
              
Zinc dropped 0.75%. Nickel saw a six-day rally end, declining ‌1.79%. Tin ⁠lost 1.48%.

(Reporting by China ⁠C&E team; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)