[Updates with media reports on HSBC job cuts] 

-- Morgan Stanley (NYSE:) and plans to start cutting about 50 investment banking jobs in Asia, excluding Japan, this week, while rival bank HSBC also started a new round of layoffs, multiple media outlets reported. 

The planned cuts at will see more than 40 reductions in Hong Kong and mainland China, Bloomberg report said, citing sources, and will affect about 13% of the 400 bankers in the Asia Pacific region excluding Japan.

HSBC, meanwhile, began the round of job cuts in its investment banking business on Tuesday, with about 30 dealmakers in Asia expected to be made redundant, Reuters reported Wednesday, citing unnamed sources.   

Morgan Stanley and HSBC declined to comment on the job cuts, but the spokesperson for the latter told Reuters that HSBC is allocating people and resources to the immediate opportunities.  

The planned cuts also mark Morgan Stanley’s second such reduction in China this year, after reports in March said the firm had laid off about 9% of its staff at its asset management business in China. 

Morgan Stanley had last year also cut several key banking jobs in China, as an economic and stock market downturn stifled dealmaking activity in the country. 

A year-long rout in Chinese stocks, coupled with middling signs of a recovery, have severely dampened prospects for Chinese markets. 

But reports of job cuts come even as Morgan Stanley booked a better-than-expected first quarter profit on a sharp rebound in its investment banking unit. 

A bulk of this rebound came from increased movement towards the U.S., as Wall Street remained strong even as other major stock markets weakened this year.

In Asia, Australia, India and Japan have also so far remained robust, while other stock markets in the region, particularly China, have struggled.