HONG KONG: Goldman Sachs Group is cutting more than 30 banking jobs in Asia, two sources with knowledge of the matter said, as a challenging markets environment weighs on Wall Street banks' dealmaking and trading revenues.

The reduction in regional jobs, most of which are in the global banking & markets division, started on Wednesday, said the sources.

China-focused bankers were hit hardest, with nine equities capital markets bankers who are based in Beijing and Hong Kong being laid off, including a managing director, according to another two sources.

Goldman Sachs declined to comment.

The fresh cuts in Asia are part of Goldman's new round of layoffs globally that will see fewer than 250 jobs go in the coming weeks, according to a fifth person with knowledge of the situation.

Wall Street banks have been reducing headcounts since late last year as a slump in dealmaking weighed on their revenues.

Rival Morgan Stanley planned to eliminate about 3,000 jobs in the second quarter, in its second round of layoffs in six months, Reuters reported last month.

Citigroup has started to cut more than 20 jobs in Asia, mostly at junior levels, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. Citigroup declined to comment.

All sources declined to be identified as they were not authorised to speak to the media. (Reporting by Julie Zhu, Kane Wu and Selena Li in Hong Kong; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee, Muralikumar Anantharaman and Simon Cameron-Moore)