diff --git a/doc/fixes36.3 b/doc/fixes36.3
index e71e94dba..d8c5ae5ce 100644
--- a/doc/fixes36.3
+++ b/doc/fixes36.3
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-$NHDT-Branch: NetHack-3.6 $:$NHDT-Revision: 1.166 $ $NHDT-Date: 1573172442 2019/11/08 00:20:42 $
+$NHDT-Branch: NetHack-3.6 $:$NHDT-Revision: 1.167 $ $NHDT-Date: 1573178084 2019/11/08 01:54:44 $
 
 This fixes36.3 file is here to capture information about updates in the 3.6.x
 lineage following the release of 3.6.2 in May 2019. Please note, however,
@@ -243,6 +243,8 @@ a recent intended sanity check fix inadvertently bypassed placing a thrown
 	chained ball back onto the floor
 in symset:curses, symbol S_tree was accidentally set to horizontal line where
 	plus-or-minus sign was meant; also, change S_bars to not-equals sign
+percentage highlighting for Xp broke up/down/changed highlighting for it;
+	it was flagged as having gone up every time the percentage changed
 curses: sometimes the message window would show a blank line after a prompt
 curses: the change to show map in columns 1..79 instead of 2..80 made the
 	highlight for '@' show up in the wrong place if clipped map had been
diff --git a/src/botl.c b/src/botl.c
index 4a856a211..4c7dbf33a 100644
--- a/src/botl.c
+++ b/src/botl.c
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-/* NetHack 3.6	botl.c	$NHDT-Date: 1562114350 2019/07/03 00:39:10 $  $NHDT-Branch: NetHack-3.6 $:$NHDT-Revision: 1.146 $ */
+/* NetHack 3.6	botl.c	$NHDT-Date: 1573178085 2019/11/08 01:54:45 $  $NHDT-Branch: NetHack-3.6 $:$NHDT-Revision: 1.148 $ */
 /* Copyright (c) Stichting Mathematisch Centrum, Amsterdam, 1985. */
 /*-Copyright (c) Michael Allison, 2006. */
 /* NetHack may be freely redistributed.  See license for details. */
@@ -142,9 +142,9 @@ do_statusline2()
     if (Upolyd)
         Sprintf(expr, "HD:%d", mons[u.umonnum].mlevel);
     else if (flags.showexp)
-        Sprintf(expr, "Xp:%u/%-1ld", u.ulevel, u.uexp);
+        Sprintf(expr, "Xp:%d/%-1ld", u.ulevel, u.uexp);
     else
-        Sprintf(expr, "Exp:%u", u.ulevel);
+        Sprintf(expr, "Exp:%d", u.ulevel);
     xln = strlen(expr);
 
     /* time/move counter */
@@ -850,6 +850,12 @@ boolean *valsetlist;
         if (anytype != ANY_MASK32) {
 #ifdef STATUS_HILITES
             if (chg || *curr->val) {
+                /* if Xp percentage changed, we set 'chg' to 1 above;
+                   reset that if the Xp value hasn't actually changed
+                   or possibly went down rather than up (level loss) */
+                if (chg == 1 && fld == BL_XP)
+                    chg = compare_blstats(prev, curr);
+
                 curr->hilite_rule = get_hilite(idx, fld,
                                                (genericptr_t) &curr->a,
                                                chg, pc, &color);