NEW DELHI: Domestic equities took a beating on Monday morning, with the BSE benchmark sliding nearly 550 points, while NSE barometer Nifty50 plunged 1.6 per cent to test the 8,700 level.The downturn was in line with the global turmoil after a prominent US policy maker on Friday hinted at a rate hike by the US Fed in the near future. But a possible Fed rate hike is not the only reason that sent the domestic market tumbling.Going by the buzz on Dalal Street , here are the top seven factors that turned investors jittery.The S&P500 index in the US slumped 2.45 per cent while Dow Jones tanked 2.13 per cent on Friday after Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren, known to be a dovish policymaker, said the US central bank faced increasing risk if it waited too long to raise interest rates. The Fed is scheduled to review money policy on September 21-22.“Longer-term structural issues remain, and there has been little change in the underlying inflation. But better growth and job gains have boosted Fed hope of a rate hike this year,” Morgan Stanley Investment Management said in a note.Foreign direct investors who use Mauritius to bet on domestic equities have started feeling the heat of the end of a zero-tax regime. The tax office has started questioning the claims of their nominees -- special purpose vehicles and entities floated in the tax haven -- for tax benefit, ET reported.In the course of recent arguments before the authority of advance ruling (AAR), the counsels of the tax department have challenged the Mauritius structures of at last four foreign private equity and strategic, the report said.Concerns over the health of the global economy heightened after Germany, Europe’s largest economy, recorded the steepest drop in exports in July in nearly a year.Data by Federal Statistics Office Data showed German exports dropped 2.6 per cent during the month, recording their biggest monthly drop since August 2015. Most European markets had settled up to 1.5 per cent down on Friday.The North Korean nuke tests and fears that UN sanctions may fail to restrict the country from any further tests had already dampened sentiments in Asia. Friday was a day of global rout. And on Monday, the proceedings began from where they had left on Friday.Domestic factory output data for July and manufacturing output data scheduled for release later in the day were expected to raise a bit of concern that there has been no material improvement in economic activity.“A sustainable positive growth in IIP data could only reflect that the industrial output is on its way to recovery. Protracted weakness in exports, subdued demand and low credit flow along with a slow pickup in investment activity are likely to keep the volume of output as indicated by the index of industrial production (IIP) muted. D&B expects IIP to have grown 2-2.5 per cent in July,” Dun & Bradstreet India said in a note.Abnish Kumar Sudhanshu, Director & Research Head, Amrapali Aadya Trading & Investments, said: “We are expecting soft IIP numbers amid sluggishness in core sector data, which accounts for 38 per cent of the country’s total industrial production. The data point was released earlier this month. In core sector data, demand for crude oil, natural gas and refinery segments remained high, while demand for coal, fertilisers, cement, electricity and steel slowed down.”Technical charts were already turning negative for the market, as investors feared that a possible rate hike by the US Fed could reverse dollar flow into the country.“My reading is that the global liquidity situation is fluid as every economy is following a loose monetary policy. But if the US Fed decides to increase rates at the next sitting, it could probably be the beginning of at least a slowdown in global liquidity, which could probably result in a correction in inflows. Should that slowdown continue, the market will go back into a trading range or a comatose kind of situation that we had seen earlier,” R Sreesankar of Prabhudas Lilladher told ETNow recently.“Lack of followup buying since last three sessions after the recent breakout should be a worrisome factor for the bulls. However, strong support can be expected in the gap zone between the 8,848 and 8,824 levels. If the Nifty50 fails to recoil from the said support zone and slips below the 8,800 level, one should conclude the recent breakout as a failed one,” said Mazhar Mohammad, Chief Strategist – Technical Research & Trading Advisory at Chartviewindia.in.In such a scenario, a bigger correction can be expected, Mohammad said.A report by Prabhudas Lilladher suggested that the Nifty50 with an earnings of Rs 446.20 is trading at a PER of 17.9 times one-year forward earnings.“The earnings momentum is lacking. If we look at the first quarter results so far, our track of roughly 2,500-odd companies tells us that net profits have actually underperformed on a year-on-year basis. They have fallen by close to 4.5 odd per cent. So, the market’s upward move is something that was surprising us,” Mahantesh Sabarad, Deputy HoR, SBI Cap Securities recently told ETNow.Selling in shares of banking and financial stocks took a toll on the benchmark indices. Shares of SBI fell about 2.5 per cent on profit taking. This stock has risen 23 per cent in the past one quarter. PNB, which has risen 71 per cent in the past quarter, fell 2.5 per cent, Indian Bank shed 4 per cent after rising over 100 per cent in the past one quarter. (This stock though is not a part of Nifty50).Shares of ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Yes Bank and HDFC Bank fell up to 3 per cent after rising up to 17 per cent in the past one quarter.