The strong upward momentum of resource shares showed little signs of abating this week. The JSE Resource 10 index rallied for the second consecutive week, trumping industrial and financial shares.Lending big support to mining stocks has been a strong pick-up in commodity prices, which caught some analysts off-guard.This week, the platinum price rallied to its best level since August last year, at $1028.50 an ounce, while the iron ore price briefly touched $70 a ton for the first time since January last year.The rally in the commodity markets has been spectacular. This month alone, Anglo American and BHP have gained a combined R129-billion in market value.Viewed on a year-to-date basis, the share prices of many locally listed mining companies look even better.Many of them, including Impala Platinum and African Rainbow Minerals, have more than doubled in value."The current higher prices are creating positive revenue prospects for many of the marginal miners, which is why we've seen the tremendous turnaround in share prices," said Nedbank Private Wealth stockbroking portfolio manager Grant Gilburt.Helping the metal prices was a weak dollar, which has taken a knock in recent weeks because of reduced expectations of US interest rate rises.The broader All Share index settled the week 0.21% lower at 52925.80 points, dragged down by industrials, which lost 2.5%.The rand continued its strengthening path against the dollar, euro and pound because of the higher metal prices.On Friday, the rand was at R14.41/$...