Nasdaq briefly turns up; Dow, S&P 500 cut losses

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Nasdaq briefly turned positive in afternoon trading on Friday, while the Dow and S&P 500 sharply cut losses, helped by gains in shares of Google and as bargain hunters stepped in following recent heavy selling.

Google shares gained 4.3 percent to $1,184.08 after reporting stronger-than-expected quarterly revenue after the bell on Thursday.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> fell 73.35 points or 0.46 percent, to 15,775.26, the S&P 500 <.SPX> lost 3.03 points or 0.17 percent, to 1,791.16 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> dropped 4.72 points or 0.11 percent, to 4,118.405.

(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Nick Zieminski)