NEARLY 60 percent of disputes involving companies based in the city’s free trade zone related to securities disagreements triggered by false or misleading statements, Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People’s Court said yesterday.

From April 1, 2016, to April 30, 2017, the court accepted 1,765 cases involving companies based in the free trade zone — more than double those accepted in the previous two years put together.

Seventy-eight of the latest cases involved expatriates and citizens of Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Altogether, securities disputes accounted for 57 percent of the 2016-2017 cases, while 32 percent of the cases concerned contract disputes.

Many of the cases involved hefty sums. On average plaintiffs demanded about 87 million yuan (US$12.6 million) in each case, said Tang Liming, deputy director of the court.