PRECIOUS-Gold lifted by US payrolls data, posts weekly gain

* Gold trims gains after Fed official's upbeat outlook

* India central bank to introduce gold-linked products

* Turkish gold imports rise to 11.27 T in January

* Coming up: U.S. factory orders Monday

(Updates prices) NEW YORK, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Gold rose in unison with equities and commodities on Friday, notching a weekly gain, after U.S. nonfarm payrolls data showed modest job growth in January. Bullion prices climbed after the Labor Department also said U.S. job gains in the prior two months were bigger than initially reported, supporting views the economy's sluggish recovery was on track despite a surprise contraction in output in the final three months of 2012. Other data, showing improved U.S. factory activity and better consumer confidence data, sent the Dow above 14,000 points for the first time since October 2007 and lifted gold and industrial commodities, led by crude oil. The decent payrolls data and signs of a recovering U.S. economy, however, have dampened gold's investment case as a hedge against further monetary stimulus by the Federal Reserve and its safe-haven appeal, an analyst said. "As an investor, I really do struggle with gold because along with any other commodities, gold does not have a yield, so the actual investment case of holding it is shaky," said Frances Hudson, global thematic strategist at Standard Life Investments, who helps manage its $247 billion in assets. Spot gold was up 0.3 percent at $1,668.54 an ounce by 2:54 p.m. EST (1954 GMT), retreating from an earlier high of $1,681.70. The metal briefly turned lower in a knee-jerk sell-off after St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said the U.S. economy is on track for a better performance this year, which will put the central bank in a position to slow or halt its massive bond-buying program. U.S. gold futures for April delivery settled up $8.60 an ounce at $1,670.60, with trading volume in line with its 250-day average, preliminary Reuters data showed. Gold gained 0.6 percent this week, offsetting some of the previous week's 1.5 percent loss. It was down slightly year to date, however, as signs of improvement in the U.S. and euro zone economies boosted investor appetite for other assets. Gold's link to stocks and industrial commodities has been largely erratic over the past year. Earlier this week, data showing a surprise shrinkage in the U.S. economy in the fourth quarter boosted bullion prices while weighing down on equities. Spot silver was up 1.7 percent at $31.94 an ounce, as the more volatile metal outperformed gold.

TECHNICALS, FUNDAMENTALS The market is digesting news that India's central bank plans to introduce three to four gold-linked products in the next few months, in an effort to bring 20,000 tonnes of gold held in households into the banking system. India is the largest importer of gold. Meanwhile, Turkish gold imports rose to 11.27 tonnes in January from 2.96 tonnes a year before. Among platinum group metals, platinum was up 0.5 percent at $1,684.49 an ounce, while palladium was up 1.8 percent at $753.47 an ounce. CME Group, the largest U.S. operator of futures exchanges, said it would add platinum and palladium options to its Globex electronic platform beginning in late February in a move to capitalize on growing investor interest in the metals.

2:54 PM EST LAST/ NET PCT LOW HIGH CURRENT SETTLE CHNG CHNG VOL US Gold APR 1670.60 8.60 0.5 1660.60 1683.00 161,971 US Silver MAR 31.958 0.607 1.9 31.300 32.160 50,136 US Plat APR 1687.70 12.30 0.7 1668.20 1693.80 9,324 US Pall MAR 756.40 10.70 1.4 739.60 758.50 4,972Gold 1668.54 5.55 0.3 1660.68 1681.70 Silver 31.940 0.530 1.7 31.330 32.130 Platinum 1684.49 8.24 0.5 1671.50 1689.75 Palladium 753.47 13.00 1.8 742.25 756.00TOTAL MARKET VOLUME 30-D ATM VOLATILITY CURRENT 30D AVG 250D AVG CURRENT CHG US Gold 175,003 168,604 172,896 14.05 0.26 US Silver 54,452 42,988 51,758 21.31 -0.45 US Platinum 9,423 18,692 10,974 17.08 0.58 US Palladium 5,290 3,765 4,696

(Additional reporting by Jan Harvey in London; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Bob Burgdorfer)