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By Bloomberg

Asian stocks extended declines as a global rout deepened, dragging a measure of regional equities down 20 percent from its April peak. A close at this level would mark the start of a bear market.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index retreated 4.4 percent to 125.75 as of 12:35 p.m. in Tokyo as stock gauges from Sydney to Hong Kong tumbled. Global equities have lost more than $5 trillion in value since China’s shock currency devaluation on Aug. 11, with U.S. shares succumbing to the selloff at the end of last week.

“Things are probably going to get worse before they get better,” Nader Naeimi, Sydney-based head of dynamic asset allocation at AMP Capital Investors Ltd., which oversees about $118 billion, said by phone. “You really need rate cuts and more policy easing in China. In the meantime, things can get worse. We’ve got to see more clarity around the Fed” and its timeline for raising interest rates.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index, which entered a bear market last week, fell 4.6 percent. Japan’s Topix index dropped 4.7 percent, heading for a correction. Singapore’s Straits Times Index slid 3.2 percent, set for a three-year low. The Shanghai Composite Index tumbled 8.5 percent, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index retreated 3.5 percent. New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index lost 2.4 percent.

Calm in the U.S. stock market was shattered last week, with volatility soaring by the most on record as the Dow Jones Industrial Average entered a correction and investors dumped the biggest winners of 2015. E-mini futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 2.7 percent Monday.

Taiwan on Sunday slapped a ban on short-selling of borrowed stocks at prices lower than the previous day’s close, while South Korea’s finance ministry said it will act “pre- emptively” after the nation’s largest exchange-traded fund suffered the biggest weekly withdrawal since its inception 15 years ago. The Taiex index slumped 4.9 percent on Monday, while the Kospi index fell 3.5 percent in Seoul.