Sector majors Rio Tinto RIO.AX and BHP Group BHP.AX rose 1.2% and 0.9%, respectively. March 15 (Reuters) - Australian shares ended a three-day losing streak on Wednesday, with mining and financial stocks leading gains, as fears of a global banking crisis eased, while cooling U.S. inflation raised hopes of smaller rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. Data showed that U.S. consumer prices rose at an expected monthly pace in February, raising bets of a smaller 25 basis-point hike in key interest rate by the Fed at its policy meeting next week.