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Shares in Brazil's Petrobras slide after $17 billion charge

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Shares in Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras fell 5 percent on Thursday, a day after it reported the largest loss ever on $17 billion (11.33 billion pounds) in charges, giving investors a deeper look at the fallout from a huge corruption scandal. Preferred shares pared losses after a sharp opening selloff in Sao Paulo as traders weighed the greater transparency and new management struggling in the aftermath of a widespread scandal. "Considering (PricewaterhouseCoopers) signed off on these results, the market perception is that there are no more surprises ahead," said Frederico Mesnik, a partner at investment firm Humaita in Sao Paulo. "The major issue weighing here is that the company is very leveraged." The write-downs in the long-delayed audited results led Petroleo Brasileiro SA, the world's most indebted oil major, to post a 2014 loss of 21.6 billion reais ($7.2 billion), its largest ever. Petrobras said 6.19 billion reais in charges were related to the corruption scandal. Prosecutors allege construction companies overcharged Petrobras for contracts and executives and politicians received kickbacks. The loss puts further pressure on President Dilma Rousseff, who was chairwoman of Petrobras between 2003 and 2010, when much of the graft took place, adding fodder to the opposition's argument her interventionist policies have weighed on the company. Many analysts viewed the publication of audited results as key to restoring credibility for Petrobras. Shares are up 10 percent this year on hopes the new chief executive officer, Aldemir Bendine, will help the company turn the page. A Credit Suisse research note said "write-downs look sizeable enough to give credibility," but warned that the outlook from executives suggested the company may continue to struggle with a heavy debt burden and costly investments. "'More of the same' in a stock that has rallied ... on the hopes of a true turnaround is a dangerous place to be in our view," the note added. (Reporting by Stephen Eisenhammer; Editing by Brad Haynes and Jeffrey Benkoe)