Manila, April 2 -- The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rallied for the third straight trading day on Wednesday while the peso closed flat against the US dollar.

The main stocks gauge increased by 1.08 percent to 6,247.68, with All Shares also improving by 0.74 percent to 3,705.12 points.

Only the Industrial index ended with a loss after declining by 0.38 percent.

Financials was the day's biggest winner after jumping 2.86 percent.

It was followed by Mining and Oil, up by 1.58 percent; Services, 1.20 percent; Property, 0.47 percent; and Holding Firms, 0.39 percent.

Advancers led decliners at 110 to 82, with 54 counters left unchanged.

"The market rose further amid expectations that inflation had remained cool last March, giving...