Australia shares edge higher on earnings, ex-dividend stocks cap

* ASX 200 supported by Wall Street, earnings

* Stocks trading ex-dividend including Telstra, Santos, Woodside cap gains

* 113 shares higher, 73 shares lower, 14 shares unchanged (Adds analysis, quotes, stocks on the move)

By Thuy Ong and Naomi Tajitsu

SYDNEY/WELLINGTON, August 27 (Reuters) - Australian shares nudged up on Wednesday thanks to strong earnings and firmer Wall Street stocks, though gains were capped by a handful of top-tier firms trading ex-dividend.

The market has been underpinned in recent weeks by a batch of healthy corporate results, which have helped take some of the sting out of geopolitical tensions.

Boral Ltd jumped 4.5 percent to its highest since early May of A$5.63 after it said it swung to an annual net profit, led by a recovery in construction activity and lower losses at its U.S. business. Lend Lease Corp Ltd climbed 1.5 percent after its annual net profit jumped 50 percent, in line with recently upgraded company forecasts.

"There still seems to be this trend where we're not seeing a lot of revenue growth in a lot of businesses, but we are seeing reasonable earnings growth and that's because there's still a lot of cost cutting going on right across corporate Australia," said Ben Clark, a portfolio manager at TMS Capital.

The S&P/ASX 200 index ticked up 10 points or 0.2 percent to 5,647.6 by 0228 GMT. It eked out a gain of 0.1 percent on Tuesday.

The benchmark index hit a 5-1/2 trough of 5,425.2 on August 8 but has since jumped more than 200 points to hover at six-year highs, underpinned by a robust earnings season.

In the U.S., the S&P 500 moved just a hair above the 2,000 mark on Tuesday, its first close above that milestone, after data pointed to a brighter future for the economy.

The Big Four banks continued to attract buyers chasing their high dividend yields. Commonwealth Bank of Australia (Other OTC: CBAUF - news) added 0.3 percent and National Australia Bank rose 0.7 percent.

On the downside, stocks trading ex-dividend dragged on the main index. Among them, Australia's biggest telecommunications provider Telstra Corporation Ltd lost 3.4 percent to two-week lows of A$5.54. Woodside Petroleum Ltd (Other OTC: WOPEF - news) dropped 2.5 percent, while Santos Ltd lost 1.1 percent.

Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd dropped 2.7 percent after reporting its full year net profit after tax of A$206.9 million versus A$246.1 million last year.

New Zealand's benchmark NZX-50 index rose 23.1 points to 5,218.73, a 3 1/2-month intraday high.

The index was boosted by a 2.1 percent rise in Air New Zealand to a two-month high of NZ$2.20 after the national carrier announced a 44 percent rise in annual profits and declared a special dividend, while forecasting a further improvement in 2015.

Genesis Energy rose 1.7 percent after the partially privatised state-power company maintained it forecasts for a rise in earnings and profits in 2015 despite a 53 percent fall in 2014 profits. (Editing by Shri Navaratnam)