A minute magnetic body detecting sensor includes: a magnetic impedance element, with two magneto-sensitive bodies disposed in substantially two-dimensional directions such that an angle formed by respective sensitive axes is substantially 90 degrees; and a signal processing device, including a signal processing circuit, processing and amplifying damped oscillating voltages output by the two magneto-sensitive bodies that detected a local magnetic field due to a minute magnetic body that is a foreign substance, two square operating elements, squaring output signals, an adder, adding the squared signals, and a square root operating element, performing square root computation on the addition output and outputting a square root output, and enables high-precision detection of existence or non-existence of a minute magnetic body without detection overlooking.