diff --git a/include/internal/catch_xmlwriter.hpp b/include/internal/catch_xmlwriter.hpp
index c59725b0..cdff5a2e 100644
--- a/include/internal/catch_xmlwriter.hpp
+++ b/include/internal/catch_xmlwriter.hpp
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ namespace Catch {
             // (see: http://www.w3.org/TR/xml/#syntax)
 
             for( std::size_t i = 0; i < m_str.size(); ++ i ) {
-                char c = m_str[i];
+                unsigned char c = m_str[i];
                 switch( c ) {
                     case '<':   os << "&lt;"; break;
                     case '&':   os << "&amp;"; break;
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ namespace Catch {
                     default:
                         // Escape control chars - based on contribution by @espenalb in PR #465
                         if ( ( c < '\x09' ) || ( c > '\x0D' && c < '\x20') || c=='\x7F' )
-                            os << "&#x" << std::uppercase << std::hex << static_cast<int>( c );
+                            os << "&#x" << std::uppercase << std::hex << static_cast<int>( c ) << ";";
                         else
                             os << c;
                 }
diff --git a/projects/SelfTest/MiscTests.cpp b/projects/SelfTest/MiscTests.cpp
index 9a2a2ab6..eb241465 100644
--- a/projects/SelfTest/MiscTests.cpp
+++ b/projects/SelfTest/MiscTests.cpp
@@ -458,10 +458,13 @@ TEST_CASE( "XmlEncode" ) {
         REQUIRE( encode( stringWithQuotes, Catch::XmlEncode::ForAttributes ) == "don't &quot;quote&quot; me on that" );
     }
     SECTION( "string with control char (1)" ) {
-        REQUIRE( encode( "[\x01]" ) == "[&#x1]" );
+        REQUIRE( encode( "[\x01]" ) == "[&#x1;]" );
     }
     SECTION( "string with control char (x7F)" ) {
-        REQUIRE( encode( "[\x7F]" ) == "[&#x7F]" );
+        REQUIRE( encode( "[\x7F]" ) == "[&#x7F;]" );
+    }
+    SECTION( "string with utf-8 characters (русский текст)" ) {
+        REQUIRE( encode( "русский текст" ) == "русский текст" );
     }
 }