A magnetoresistive transducer includes a multilayer provided with a first soft magnetic layer, a conductive nonmagnetic layer, a second soft magnetic layer, and a biasing magnetic layer giving a magnetization of a predetermined direction to the second soft magnetic layer, in that order of superposition. The first soft magnetic layer is a multilayer superposed structure including a (Co.sub.y Fe.sub.100-y).sub.100-x Z.sub.x alloy layer where Z represents boron and x and y represent atomic fractions (at %), and an alloy layer containing at least Ni and Fe. The (Co.sub.y Fe.sub.100-y).sub.100-x Z.sub.x alloy layer ofthe first soft magnetic layer borders on the nonmagnetic layer and has a face-centered cubic lattice structure with a d spacing smaller than a d spacing of a Co.sub.y Fe.sub.100-y alloy. A pair of electrodes are formed on the multilayer for allowing a sense current to pass through the multilayer.