13-year-old's gold gives air to Japan skateboard stocks; Morito gains 12%

Japan has a new hero in the diminutive form of 13-year-old gold medal-winning skateboarder Momiji Nishiya. Investors are betting that’s good news for stocks connected to a sport that has considerable room to grow in the country.
 

Shares in Morito Co., which distributes skateboarding gear, surged 12% Monday after Nishiya’s victory in the Olympic women’s street skateboarding event. Another Japanese athlete, Funa Nakayama, won bronze in the same event, while on Sunday 22-year-old Yuto Horigome took gold for Japan in the men’s skateboarding event.

Other stocks also climbed as investors and retail traders scrambled for names they thought could