NEW YORK, Aug 5 (Reuters) - China's largest Web search company, Baidu.com Inc.'s shares surged to preliminarily close 354 percent higher on its U.S. market debut on Friday, the biggest daily gain by a newcomer to the market in five years.

The Beijing-based company late Thursday priced an initial public offering of its American depositary shares (ADS) at $27 each, having raised its price range to $23 to $25 per ADS from $19 to $21 as its offer generated strong investor interest.

Baidu.com shares soared as soon as its shares began trading on Nasdaq on Friday morning, hitting an intraday high of $151.21.