Britain's FTSE outperforms as mining shares hit four-month high

* FTSE 100 index gains 0.7 pct

* Mining stocks track metal prices higher

* Schroders (LSE: SDR.L - news) falls on a broker downgrade (Adds detail, updates prices)

By Atul Prakash and Kit Rees

LONDON, March 4 (Reuters) - Britain's mining index climbed to a four-month high on Friday, boosted by a rally in the prices of major industrial metals.

Glencore (Xetra: A1JAGV - news) , Anglo American (LSE: AAL.L - news) , BHP Billiton (NYSE: BBL - news) , Antofagasta (Other OTC: ANFGF - news) and Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO.L - news) rose by 3.2 to 5.7 percent, helping the index to climb 3.9 percent and taking 2016 gains to around 26 percent.

Copper was headed for its biggest weekly advance in about six months, amid optimism about demand and cuts in output .

"Miners are having a great run as some investors believe that stronger metals prices may change the fate of the basic resources sector," Securequity senior trader, Jawaid Afsar, said. "However, the sector remains vulnerable in the near-term as the recent rally may prompt some people to book profits."

The advance by mining shares helped the FTSE 100 gain 0.7 percent, rising to 6,170.09 points by 1417 GMT, in line with the wider European market.

The index also benefitted from a surge in U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . nonfarm payrolls, a sign of labour market strength that could further ease fears the economy was heading into recession.

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 242,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate held at an eight-year low of 4.9 percent even though more people joined the labour market.

Investors, however, were cautious about the data, citing weaker earnings numbers as a cause for concern.

"It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) 's all well and good jobs increasing on an almost month-on-month basis, but if hourly earnings aren't going up, and if ... the unemployment rate is fairly steady, then I don't think there's too much scope for the Federal Reserve to be able to hike interest rates in the near-term," said Manoj Ladwa, head of trading at TJM Partners.

The UK stock index has surged about 12 percent since hitting a multi-year low last month. It is now set for its third week of straight gains for the first time in 2016.

Among the gains was budget airline easyJet, which rose 3.9 percent after saying passenger numbers rose 9.8 percent in February.

But asset manager Schroders was down 2.3 percent after Citigroup (NYSE: C - news) downgraded it to "neutral" from "buy", citing challenging markets and the company's comments on future investment.

Builders' merchant Travis Perkins (LSE: TPK.L - news) fell 2.9 percent and Whitbread (LSE: WTB.L - news) 1.6 percent. Leading investment banks and brokers including Deutsche Bank (LSE: 0H7D.L - news) , CitiGroup and Exane BNP Paribas cut their price targets for the stocks. (Additional reporting by Atul Prakash; Editing by Larry King)