LONDON, May 16- Google Inc faced angry questions on Thursday from British lawmakers investigating its tax affairs and whether it had misled parliament in testimony last year, adding fuel to a debate on taxation that has risen to the top of the UK political agenda.
Google fell $6.63 or. 7 percent, to $909.26. Groupon Inc. rose$. 40 or 5.8 percent, to $7.26. LinkedIn Corp. fell $2.78 or 1.5 percent, to $182.03.
Google's Northern Europe boss, Matt Brittin, was called back to testify to parliament's Public Accounts Committee after a Reuters investigation showed the company employed staff in sales roles in London, even though he had told the committee in November its British staff didn't sell to UK clients.
The Shanghai Composite rallied over 1 percent on Thursday as investors cheered news of easing regulations while Japan's Nikkei index closed off its five-and-a-half year peak after data showed that capital spending fell for a fifth straight month.
TOKYO, May 16- Japan's Nikkei stock average is expected to score fresh multi-year highs on Thursday on the yen's persistent weakness against the dollar and record highs for U.S. stocks overnight, but buyers may become more conservative given the rapid pace of recent gains.
NEW YORK, May 15- A U.S. judge on Wednesday denied class-action status to copyright owners suing Google Inc over the use of material posted on YouTube without their permission.
*Google music streaming service costlier than Pandora. SAN FRANCISCO, May 15- Google Inc launched a music service on Wednesday that allows users to listen to unlimited songs for $9.99 a month, challenging smaller companies like Pandora and Spotify in the market for streaming music.
eBay rose$. 38 or. 7 percent, to $56.65. Google rose $28.79 or 3.2 percent, to $915.89. Groupon Inc. fell$. 03 or. 4 percent, to $6.86.
NEW YORK, May 15- A U.S. judge on Thursday denied class-action status to copyright owners suing Google Inc over the use of material posted on YouTube without their permission. District Judge Louis Stanton in Manhattan denied a motion to certify a class of copyright owners in a long-running lawsuit over videos and music posted to popular website.
*Internet shares among day's gainers; Google hits new high. But shares of Apple's rival Google shot up to a new record high at $916.38 on news that it has adopted a streaming music business model. Google closed at $915.89, up 3.3 percent.