RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Shares of Brazilian state-run oil company Petrobras jumped more than 8 percent on Tuesday after a local newspaper reported that President Dilma Rousseff decided to replace the embattled company's chief executive officer, Maria das Graças Foster.
Rousseff's press office denied the report, as did a senior official in the presidential palace. Petroleo Brasileiro SA (SA:PETR4), as Petrobras is formally known, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The report on Folha de S.Paulo's website said the president's office had notified Foster that she would be replaced, without saying how it obtained the information. It did not say when Foster, who has run Petrobras for three years, would step down.
Petrobras preferred shares, the company's most-traded class of stock, were up 8.3 percent at 9.38 reais in midday trading in Sao Paulo. The gain puts the stock on track for its biggest one-day gain since Nov. 21.
A separate report in Folha said Finance Minister Joaquim Levy has been sounding potential replacements for Foster, who has come under pressure to resign since Petrobras became engulfed in a multibillion-dollar corruption scandal last year.