41.   Reaction was muted on the stock exchange, with shares dipping slightly immediately after the announcement.

42.   Reaction was relatively muted on Japanese financial markets.

43.   Thus market reaction was muted Monday when Finance Minister Theo Waigel reiterated what he had said last week.

44.   Unions have long complained that the government never fulfills its promises of money for the south, and reaction was muted to the approval of the package.

45.   But initial reactions were muted.

46.   The speech was widely condemned by Muslim countries around the Middle East while reaction elsewhere was muted.